Phangirl or Lover?
by xXRoseOfDarknessXx
Summary: Kristina is your average teenage phangirl whose phantasies come true when she finds the real Erik lost and confused in modern time. She happily takes him in, but will her feelings for him get more complex as she gets to know the true Phantom of the Opera?
1. Chapter 1

It started off as a normal day, or at least as normal as a day can be when you're a living ghost. It wasn't until the Phantom returned to his catacombs that his daily routine changed. The Phantom had found a door. A secret door.

That in itself wasn't strange, he had built secret passages all throughout his theatre. It was the location of the door that seemed amiss. It was in the middle of the back wall of his home.

Erik knew his underground lair better than most people knew their houses, and he knew with absolute certainty there wasn't supposed to be a door there.

He narrowed his eyes. Who had dared to not only enter the Phantom's lair, but to build a door in it? He stormed over to it angrily. Whoever it was, they would be sorry.

_Erik's home is Erik's place! _he thought angrily as he reached for the strange door.

The second his hand closed around the intricate metal design of the handle, the door threw itself open and surrounded Erik in a burst of light. He tried to pull his hands up to protect his eyes, but he found he was stuck. Before he even had time to panic, he felt himself getting sucked in through the door and into the blinding light.

~x~x~x~x~

"When am I ever going to need to know the 'strengths and weaknesses of German tanks in World War II'?" Kristina wondered aloud, frowning down at her history homework. She had been working on this worksheet for nearly an hour, and the questions seemed to get more and more pointless. She started to tap her feet and rap her knuckles against the table. She was getting restless, and the fact that it was completely silent apart from her didn't help. Her parents had taken her other siblings out to get their haircut, and they had left Kristina alone with the house. She threw her homework down with a sigh.

"Forget this, I'm going for a walk!" She decided, jumping up and quickly grabbing her iPod as she raced out the door.

She immediately plugged in her headphones and let the sound of Marianas Trench's Masterpiece Theatre fill her ears. She stopped at the end of her driveway and took a deep breath, relishing the fresh spring air. She decided to walk up to the library, since she was running low on books. She skipped through the crowded streets as '_Sing, Sing' _played through her headphones. She was so lost in the music she didn't notice the man running towards her until she was made aware of his presence by way of him smashing into her, sending the two strangers crashing to the ground.

**Authoress Note: Who is this mysterious man running into Kristina? As if you don't know :P **

**If there is indeed anyone reading this, please review! If you don't, I won't put up the next chapter. 1 review=1chapter, that's how it works. The more reviews there are, the faster I'll post the chapter. Get it? Good. Talk to you next chapter! ^_^**

**Oh, and don't worry if you don't know Marianas Trench or their songs. I just happened to be listening to them at the time.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks so much to my first and second reviewers! ^_^**

**Phantom Waffles: First of all, I love your name! Thanks to you there are now doodles all over my schoolwork of a waffle resembling Erik. Including ones of "Phantom Waffle" killing "Pancake Raoul" and them fighting over "French Toast Christine" xD And don't we all wish for that? **

**StrawberryStoleYourCookie: The Phantom of the Opera in modern day time? Of course that'll be fun! Thank you, and you don't have to wait because here it is =D**

Chapter 2

The light was unbearable. Getting thrown around like a rag doll wasn't too fun either, but Erik was more used to that. Finally, he landed roughly on something solid and darkness filled his gaze once more.

His relief was cut short, however. When he opened his eyes, he was not met with the sweet solitude of his lair. There was another person only a few feet from him, and he could hear even more voices in the distance. And this broken down old alley was certainly _not_ Erik's lair. But where was it?

Erik eyed the other man distastefully. He was certainly not going to ask someone who looked like that for directions! Now, Erik wasn't usually one to judge other's on their appearances (he of all people knew how cruel that was) but the man clearly had some sort of mental illness if he wasn't capable of wearing his pants around his waist where they belong.

He quickly left the alley without a word and was met by more light and a huge crowd of people. He was instantly knocked down. Not by the sights, but literally. In a blur of colours, the Phantom was on the ground.

~X~X~X~X~

"I'm sorry! I didn't see you there, and I was distracted, and I'm _so_ sorry!" Kristina apologised profusely, scrambling to her feet. "Here, let me help-" Her train of thought was cut off when she saw the man lying in front of her. He had dark hair and he was wearing old style clothing, a black cape, and a mask that showed nothing more than part of his mouth, and the pupils of his yellow eyes. _He looks like Erik! _Kristina realised with a silent phangirlish scream. _He must be an actor in Phantom of the Opera! I have to find out where it's playing!_

The mystery man brushed her hand away and pulled himself to his feet. Once standing, he towered above Kristina. His eyes narrowed as he glared down at her.

"I neither need nor want your help!" he hissed. The man flicked his cape dramatically as he turned to walk away, but he froze mid-step. "What the-?" Kristina heard him mutter as he took a few staggering steps back. She saw his yellow eyes widen and his mouth drop open slightly.

"Is something wrong?" Kristina asked, looking at the man, her eyes shining with concern. "Do you need help with something?"

"You want to help me? How can you help Erik when you are part of the problem?" _Wow, this guy's really in character. He's even doing Erik's adorable third person speaking!_ she thought with another silent squeal. "It's bad enough that Erik is in this strange place that is definitely not Paris talking to this strange girl who is definitely not speaking French, and Erik is in this huge crowd with too many people around him, but now he has to deal with this nosy strange girl- _what are you wearing?_" he exclaimed angrily, looking down at Kristina for the first time.

"Jeans and a tank top?" Kristina explained looked down self-consciously.

"What….improper…unacceptable…those pants don't even _fit_!" he stuttered, outraged.

"They're not supposed to, they're capris!" she protested. The man ignored her.

"And that shirt…your entire arms are showing!" he exclaimed. Kristina thought she could see a faint flush of pink on the part of his skin not hidden beneath the mask.

"Well at least I'm dressed like a normal human being who doesn't shop at antique stores for clothing!" Kristina retaliated, getting annoyed. This man thought it was normal to dress like the phantom of the opera but she wasn't allowed to wear a tank top in the spring?

"I happen to be dressed fairly normally, and certainly more decent than-" he was cut off by a young man crashing into him.

"Watch where you're standing around, freak!"

The masked man recoiled as if the stranger had hit him. His eyes filled with sadness. "Even when people can't see Erik's face he's still a freak. Erik knows this. No one likes Erik. Erik-" he was cut off by yelling, which he soon realised was coming from Kristina.

"What gives you the right to call someone else a freak when you're wearing _girl_ clothing? Hear that? SKINNY JEANS ARE FOR GIRLS! (**A/N: I mean no ofense to anyone who is or knows a male who wears skinny jeans. Kristina's just angry) **Hypocritical jerk!" She shouted, glaring after said jerk. She turned back to the masked an with a huff and saw in his eyes amusement and a hint of confusion. She blushed.

"Well he was being a jerk!" She tried to explain herself, her face turning darker under the masked stranger's amused gaze. "But he does prove me right about the fact that your outfit isn't exactly normal looking." He opened his mouth to argue but the curly haired brunette cut him off. "Look around! Do you see anyone else dressed like you?" She asked, indicating the crowd.

"She's right…everyone here is dressed like this girl! Where am I? This is bad, I have to find Paris, Erik has to get back to his-"

"Will you cut that out? The costume is brilliantly accurate and you seem like a great actor but you're not putting a show on right now so you can stop acting like Erik." Kristina pointed out.

"Acting like Erik? Strange girl, what do you mean 'acting like Erik'? Erik _is _Erik!" The stranger protested angrily.

"Don't be silly. Erik isn't real." Kristina felt a pang of sadness as she said this. _I wish he was, but…_"You aren't fooling-"

"There he is, man!" A boy about Kristina's age interrupted. "That's the dude I told you about!" He and another boy were all staring at the masked Erik look-alike.

"Seriously, bro?" The second man asked, sounding sceptical. "I dunno, man. It's not possible. What were you on?"

"Nothing man, he totally appeared out of nowhere!"

The masked man froze and his eyes flashed dangerously. He whipped something out of his shirt and threw it around the boy's neck. He used it to drag the boy back into the alleyway, followed by two shocked teenagers. _What's going on? _Kristina wondered, a hint of fear showing in her eyes.

"What did you see?" the man growled angrily, pulling the rope tight against the boy's neck.

"N-nothing!" the boy said quickly after he had stopped choking. "I just saw nothing and then you were there, like magic!"

"Tell no one, understood?" he hissed at him, tightening the lasso one more time before releasing him. "You as well!" he added to the other boy. "If you value your lives, you'll keep me a secret. Know that I only let you live today to keep my existence unknown, but if you tell anyone I _will_ hunt you down and kill you!" he told them in a soft, dangerous voice. The boys nodded quickly and ran away at top speed, leaving Kristina alone with the psychotic masked man. He turned to her.

"And as for you…"

**Authoress Note: CLIFFHANGER! This man claims to be Erik, and he has the Punjab to prove it! What will happen to our lovable heroine, stuck in a dark alley alone with this stranger? Stay tuned dear readers!**

**A bit more dramatic then I'd first intended, but it'll get lighter and fluffier later. Hopefully. I'm not that good with comedy, unless it just sort of happens. **

**Also, I've realised from past years that I tend to drag things out a lot longer than they should be. Do you think I'm doing this? If so, don't be afraid to tell me. I'll just edit them in the future to make them shorter. **

**Remember, reviews=new chapter! Plus, as a limited time offer, we'll throw in a free complimentary Punjab lasso! *holds up lasso to a chorus of 'ooh's and 'aah's***

**Erik: HEY! THAT'S MINE!**

**Me: Uh-oh! Quick, review so you can get a Punjab lasso before Erik gets it back! *runs***

***sneaks back* P.S. I may not get a chance to update for a few days…I have 5 projects for school I have to work on. I'll update ASAP though! Uh-oh, I think Erik's coming!**

**Erik: Give me back my Punjab!**

**Me: Gotta run! *runs away again***


	3. Chapter 3

**Le Phantome c'est moi: Grazie/Merci! ^_^**

**StrawberryStoleYourCookie: The high pitched phangirl laugh? I do that all the time. I think my parents suspect that I'm inhaling helium or something from the amount of squealing that comes from my room while reading Erik phanfics =P**

**I agree, but I can't offend my readers now can I? =P**

**That's very true, the only thing to wish for is that you'll find your Erik. I'm secretly hoping that I'll meet Erik whenever I go to a theatre to see a play. Or maybe I'd find him at a show of Phantom of the Opera? (secret desire of mine, to meet Erik at a theatre playing POTO ^_^')**

**I never really saw why so many people did them until I tried it. I hate reading them, love writing them! **

**Thanks! I hope you enjoy this one just as much!**

**PhantomWaffles: That's one of the main reasons I wanted to write this, for Erik's reaction to modern day music! Especially rap music! (Though when I say rap '**_**music' **_**I mean music in the most non-musical sense of the word. No offence to anyone, I just don't like rap) Well the name was a stroke of genius if you ask me! And I love Requiem Mask! "Holy flying sheep in a shipwreck!" =P**

**382jollytumgirl: Dreams can be cruel though. I had a dream the other night that I was the Phantom's assistant sort of but he liked this other girl and then by the end of the dream he got eaten by sharks…it was weird, and I got all depressed for the rest of the day.**

**LadyCavalier: Thanks! ^_^ Hehe you'll have to read the chapter to find out! I was sort of using the mask from Requiem Mask, the white one. Or I guess the official logo looks the same too. Except I pictured it black on my Erik, though looking back I didn't mention it's colour…And I'm in 10****th**** grad**

**Axelion the Vampire Phantom: Silly Kristina! She'll figure it out eventually. I just hope she figures it out before Erik Punjabs her =P**

**Erik: Well I can't very well do that without my Punjab now can I? *glares at Axelion* **

**Me: Well then maybe Kristina will stay alive long enough for the story to get somewhere! **

**Erik: Maybe, but still…GIVE ME BACK MY PUNJAB! *chases Axelion***

**Me: *sigh* Oh well. On with the story.**

Chapter 3

"And as for you…" The "Phantom" said, turning to Kristina. The young girl gulped as she waited for the crazy stranger to threaten or attack her.

"Where am I?" he asked, in a fairly polite tone for someone who had just strangled a kid and threatened to kill him.

"How can you ask me such a mundane question after that display back there?" _I should call the police. This is way out of my league…_ She realised, quickly slipping her cell phone out of her pocket.

"What is that?" She saw the man's eyes darken. "It looks like a phone. Surely after that 'display' as you called it you aren't planning on calling the police?" he asked, a threat hidden under his words. Kristina ignored him and dialled faster. She saw the man dash towards her and acted almost instinctively as he jumped at her with his Punjab. He went to strangle her, but, keeping the words of Mme Giry in her mind, she had quickly brought her hand up to the level of her eyes. The stranger stepped back with a glare once he saw his attack had been blocked.

"How did you know to do that? Who told you the secret of the Phantom's lasso?" He asked in a dangerous tone.

"I know the Phantom of the Opera," she explained, still a little shaken. The man hissed.

"You do not know me!" he objected loudly.

"Not you! The story. Duh," she added under her breath.

"Story?" The man looked confused. "The story of the Phantom couldn't have travelled as far as America…" he said to himself.

"Canada." Kristina corrected. "This is Canada." This guy really had some serious problems.

"Oh. My apologies, I assumed from the language and the accent…Wait…Canada?" he exclaimed, looking around. "I've never been to Canada. One of the few places Erik's never seen…"

"You still insist that you're Erik?" she asked, rolling her eyes. This guy needed therapy. She looked down to her phone to dial 9-1-1 but she realised it wasn't there. "Where's my-" The man cut her off by dangling her phone in front of her face. "Wait, when did you-"

"When I was trying to strangle you," he explained indifferently. "What is this thing anyways? It's like a phone, but it isn't connected to anything. Must be a Canadian invention," he mused, fiddling with Kristina's phone. "Canada! How did I get to Canada? That door…what was it? And how did it-WHAT?" His voice was so full of fury that Kristina jumped and gave a small shriek. The man was glaring at the cell phone in disbelief. "Girl, this device is broken. Up here where it says 'date' it says May 9, 2011. It's off by over a century!"

"Um…it _is _2011." _What is going on? _"Listen, are you from a mental institution or something? Do you need help finding the hospital?"

"It is most certainly _not_ 2011! It's the nineteenth century," he insisted adamantly.

"If it is, then that cell phone in your hand doesn't exist," she pointed out. "They weren't invented until…uh…recently.""Cell phone? What's that?" The man asked, tilting his head curiously. Kristina felt a smile spread across her face in spite of the fact that she'd seen this man try to kill another boy and herself in the past ten minutes. He was just so adorably Erik-like! "Stop grinning and answer!" he growled, snapping Kristina out of her phangirlish thoughts.

"Cell phone, it's short for cellular phone. It runs off satellite signals or something," she explained quickly, blushing with embarrassment. _Snap out of it! He's not Erik! _The man was still looking at the cell phone thoughtfully.

"I get it. It's a joke. Someone's trying to fool Erik." His expression grew frighteningly cold. "They will pay for messing with the Phantom of the Opera. Erik will-"

"Look, do you want me to prove it's not the eighteen hundreds?" She interrupted, deciding to play along with his game. The man nodded. His expression matched hers, a person playing along with the game of someone clearly not in their right mind. She frowned and turned around, indicating for him to follow.

They hadn't gone far before Kristina stopped. "Here. This is a road. Just wait for a car to come by and then I dare you to try and tell me we're still in the 1800s." she challenged.

The man smirked, as if he was planning on doing exactly that, but when said car drove passed he freaked out. He jumped back with a scream of surprise and horror.

"What was that?" he asked Kristina, who was still shocked from his unexpected outburst. Surely this was taking the act too far…

"I told you, a car," she explained. "A 2011 car." The man nodded slowly, astonished.

"She may be right…Erik knows cars don't look like that. And that door is definitely not normal, it brought Erik to Canada. Maybe…could it have brought Erik through time?" he shook his head. "No! It isn't possible. Erik must be dreaming. I'm dreaming…" he decided. He turned to Kristina. "You're a dream!" He told her. She shook her head.

"Nope, I'm real! See?" She added, grabbing his hand. "You can feel me touch you so you can't be dream-" she stopped when she saw the look in the man's eyes. Shock, confusion, and…contentment? She blushed withdrawing her hand. _He. Is. Not. Erik! _she scolded herself. _Pull yourself together!_ "Problem?" she asked.

"No one touches Erik…" he said softly, a mixture of sadness and amazement. "And your hand is so warm…" He looked down as if to hide a blush of his own. Kristina's face reddened to match.

"Look, you're not Erik! Please stop acting like that, you have no idea how much that effects me to hear someone talk like him." she explained.

"I am Erik. The Phantom of the Opera. I shall prove it to you." He frowned thoughtfully. "Somehow… How much do you know about the Phantom of the 'Palais Garnier', the Paris Opera House?" he asked her. He didn't wait for her to answer. "Do you know that I can appear in multiple places at once? That my voice is the most evidence anyone has of me? If I tell you how I am a ghost, will you believe me?"

"I know how obviously, it's in the story. You use trap doors and secret passageways around the theatre, and you can do ventriloquism," she explained. The man looked shocked.

"If Erik didn't owe you Erik would likely kill you for all you know…" she heard him mumble under his breath. "How about things about Erik's past? Perhaps Erik's mother's name?" he offered uncertainly.

"Madeline?" she guessed. Susan Kay was the only one who had given Erik's mother a name. Erik nodded slowly.

"She knows. She knows everything. How do you know, strange girl?" he asked suspiciously.

"I'm not answering anything from you until I've seen your proof that you're the Phantom." she said determined. _Who are you kidding, he's obviously not! _the voice of logic in her head argued. _But maybe…just maybe…_a more hopeful one added. _Besides, it should be fun to see what he- _she was cut off by another shout of surprise from the strange man as another car came speeding by.

"For Mozart's sake can we please move somewhere where these god awful machines of speed don't interrupt us with their wretched noise every other sentence?" he shouted, glaring after the car.

"Not until I see your proof!"

"Watch what you are messing with child, the consequences could be far greater than you know and you could end up being dragged down to hell with me, the devil himself," a deep voice below her warned. She jumped and looked at Erik accusingly.

"Ventriloquism?" she asked. He grinned smugly. "That's not proof, lots of people can do that." His grin faded.

"Well then Erik will think of something that pleases you, Princesse du monde," he taunted with an eye roll.

Kristina blushed and watched his visible features settle into a look of concentration. He was rather handsome looking, though she couldn't tell much with that mask on. She found herself wondering what he would look like without the mask on. The features she could see at least, were alluring. His skin was pale, perhaps even to the point of ill looking, but she had always liked pale skin. It looked like ivory. His was more of an off white than white, but it was unique nonetheless. And it brought out his eyes…those glowing yellow eyes, so hypnotising, so enthralling…before she knew what she was doing she was standing close in front of him, and his eyes were frozen on her. .

"What are you doing?" he wondered, partly apprehensive but partly just curious. She herself didn't know what she was doing until she felt her hand touch on his cold black mask. "What…wait, don't touch that!" he scolded, jerking back from her. The mask got caught on the young girl's hand, and came off from the force of his retreat.

He immediately brought up his hands to cover his face but not before Kristina saw it. Not to mention she had felt his skin graze her hand as he'd pulled away. He looked like Gaston Leroux described…like death. His face almost like a skull, darkened hollow circles around his eyes, no nose…but there wasn't as much horror as she had felt when the book described him.

"Is this proof enough for you? Je t'emmerde! Tu es TROP exasperant! Je te deteste, fille stupide de l'avenir!" He cursed, slipping into French. (**AN: May not be correct…But it should say "**** you! You are TOO exasperating! I hate you stupid girl of the future!")**

"Je suis tres desole monsieur! J'ai ne savais pas que tu...j'ai pensé que ton masque est pour décoration!" she apologised once again to the masked stranger. "Desole, desole!" (**"I'm very sorry sir, I didn't know that you…I thought your mask was just for decoration!" "Sorry, sorry!")**

He didn't turn, but he stopped shouting. "Tu parle francais?" he asked.

"Non. Un petit bout, mais non," she answered. (**No. A little bit, but no.) **He nodded slowly, taking in her words and thinking, still with his back turned to her and his face covered.

"Give me my mask. Then I will decide what to do with you." The words were a low threatening growl. Kristina just nodded and held out the mask silently. He snatched it from her and placed it securely over his disfigured face.

"So…you…you are Erik?" she asked timidly.

"You felt Erik's face, did it feel like another mask, or stage make-up to you?" he asked coldly. She shook her head. "You know Erik's biggest secret…the secret of his hideous face…on top of that, you know all Erik's other secrets…how?"

"Well," she started, but stopped. He was Erik. She was talking to Erik. _The real Erik! _The only thing dampening her joy was the look of anger and hurt in his eyes. She knew she owed him an explanation, but how would he handle knowing every secret of his life was published in books, multiple movie adaptations, and the longest running play on Broadway? "Your story is famous. The infamous Phantom of the Opera. You're a legend to the people now, as I'm sure you were in your time."

"Erik is used to fame. But how do you know Erik's name? So few have been told…" Kristina heard the unspoken part of that sentence. Which one of these few will be punished for sharing his secrets?

"I don't know," she lied. "It's one of those stories that just kept getting passed on. Perhaps a descendant of Christine?" she suggested.

"Christine?" Erik repeated in confusion. "Erik doesn't know a Christine," he said.

Kristina's heart nearly stopped. He didn't know Christine? So he must be from before Leroux's novel started... _That means I have a chance! _she realised, but she quickly silenced the thought with a new question, her face burning:

"How old are you?"

"21."

_He's only five years older than me! _Again she fought to silence her inner thoughts of phangirlish delight.

"It is Erik's turn to ask questions. What should Erik do to you, nosy girl, as punishment for daring to defy his one deepest secret?" he asked silkily. Eying her thoughtfully. She saw his hands twitch towards where she knew he had hidden his Punjab. She gulped at the thought of being left here to die and quickly came up with an offer.

"I have an idea, you need a place to stay, right?" she explained. "Since you're in an unknown country two hundred years after your time, you'll need somewhere to live and perhaps a guide?"

"Erik doesn't need help from-" she cut him off.

"What's a television?" she asked. Her question was met with confusion. "What's a radio? Who's Harry Potter? What kind of clothing is it normal to wear in the twenty first century?" The man sighed.

"Fine, I see your point. I suppose until Erik can figure out exactly what happened and how to get back to his theatre where he belongs he can stay with you. I only hope the foolish managers don't destroy my opera house in my absence." He looked up at Kristina. "La Palais Garnier, it does still exist in your time, correct?"

"Yes," she replied. "But I don't remember if it's still open. We can Google it when we get to my house."

"Google?" He asked, with his adorable head tilt. She allowed her inner phangirl to giggle childishly at the cuteness.

"Oh, Erik, you have so much to learn," she smiled up at him.

"Yes, let's start with your name. As you already know my name, a formal introduction may seem pointless, however I still feel it's polite. I am Erik, pleasure to make your acquaintance," he introduced himself, sweeping into a bow.

"My name is Kristina, and the pleasure is all mine!" She smiled and gave a small curtsy. "Wonderfully polite introduction. But your first lesson is, nowadays people don't curtsy or bow. Ever. Shaking hands is the normal introductory gesture," she explained, holding out her hand.

He looked at it cautiously for a few moments, but finally seemed to decide this was not a trap of any sort and grasped her hand in his.

Leroux had described his hands as cold and dead, but she found his hand pleasantly warm. Perhaps he had only been cold from living underground for so long, and being in the sunlight even for this short time had given them a chance to warm up. He released her hand with a small, almost shy, smile. She returned a huge bright smile of her own.

"Come on, we have to get back to my house before my parents get home!" she warned, looking at her watch in a panic. She ran off, waving at Erik to follow her.

"Wait, parents?" Erik followed, wondering exactly what he was getting himself into.

**What indeed Erik? How will Erik handle being in such a strange new world? And how will Kristina smuggle the young man into her house and keep him there without her family finding out? You'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out, so stay tuned readers!**

**Authoress Note: I'm Canadian, so I've been learning French pretty much since kindergarten. However, I haven't been learning much of it. Just the basics. The line about "stupid girl of the future" doesn't seem right to me…(if any French speaking readers would like to correct me that would be wonderful!) But I figured my translations would be just as accurate as an online translator, since we both know the bare minimum about French.**

**Also, remember how I said the other day that it might be a while before I updated? Obviously that period of absence never happened did it. See what happens when you guys review? You motivate me to write more! Because "Phangirl or Lover" is more important than my schoolwork. Schoolwork makes no one happy. Phanphics make reviewers happy! So review, and continue to motivate me! **


	4. Chapter 4

**StrawberryStoleYourCookie- I'm done now! Well, almost. I still have to read Hamlet for Drama, but that project doesn't have to be done for about a month. Actually, her name is Kristina because **_**my**_** name is Kristina. That's the main reason, but it will eventually have a bit of an effect on plot. Not for a LONG time though. And Christine exists, Erik just hasn't met her yet. Thank you! ^_^ I love Erik's third person ranting, it's adorable! Also, unrelated question , is the picture on your profile a picture of you?**

**Axelion the Vampire Phantom- Erik: Smart choice girl. *hugs Punjab lasso***

**Me: Hehe. Rikky. What a cute nickname!**

**Erik: Don't even think about it!**

**Me: Fine. *pouts* **

**You'll just have to read on to find out!**

**PhantomWaffles-I'm sure everyone wishes they could bring Erik home with them! Lucky fictional Kristina…**

**SexyKnickers- That was my intention. Just give Kristina a while, she'll fall for Erik in no time =P**

**Little Luxa- Me too! *squees together with Little Luxa* I love RM too! I'm honoured that you'd compare my phanfic to that ^_^ You have a stuffed Mephi? *is REALLY jealous* When I first read that part of RM I begged my mom to get a bunny so I could name it Mephi! But all I have is an eraser that looks a bit like Mephi…**

**YES! WAFFLES! MY LIFE IS COMPLETE!**

**Missfine1997-Thank you! I hope you enjoy this chapter too!**

**Also, I just realised I forgot something. Something that should be fairly obvious, but I'll say it anyways:**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Phantom of the Opera. He just lives in my basement and steals my food. But his story, and all other POTO references belong to the brilliant Gaston Leroux. Except anything related to the movie or musical. They belong to the not as brilliant but still not bad Andrew Lloyd Webber.**

Chapter 4 

For most of the walk back to the girl-_Kristina's, _Erik corrected himself- home Erik stared at his hand. The hand in which he had held this strange girl's warm hand and she had not recoiled in fear. He looked from his hand to hers. Next to his pale yellowy skin, hers was like ivory. But softer. Like white silk perhaps? And warm, like…like life. Her hair looked just as silky as her skin, but it was made of soft golden curls. It was as full of life as her bubbly spirit, flowing in the wind as she walked, bouncing with each step she took…and her eyes…

"Um, Erik?" she questioned, snapping him out of his reverie. "We're here!'

~X~X~X~X~

The whole walk home Kristina was nervous. The Phantom of the Opera himself was going to be living in _her_ house! It was all she could do not to giggle and squeal like the phangirl she was. The journey back home was silent. Erik didn't break it and she couldn't think of anything to say. At last, they reached Kristina's street and stopped in front of her driveway.

"And here's my house!" she said, turning around to look at Erik, but she stopped when she saw the look in his eyes. He was staring at her. Looking into her eyes in wonder. "Um, Erik?" she called to him, feeling her face burn. He seemed to snap to attention and his earlier dreamy expression disappeared. "We're here!" she announced, pointing to the small house in front of them. While Erik examined the house, she pulled out her watch.

"Oh great, we've only got about 10 minutes before my family gets back! Hurry up, no time to look at the view!" she said in a panicky tone, holding open the door for her visitor. He calmly walked past her into the entrance hall.

"It should be safe to leave your shoes up here. There's so many, I doubt anyone will notice an extra pair," she explained, quickly throwing her shoes onto the shelf. Erik nodded and did the same, then started to head up the staircase to the main level of the house.

"Where are you going?" Kristina asked, looking at him curiously. She answered her own question before he got a chance too. "Oh, my room isn't up there."

"Then where is it?" Erik asked, confused. Kristina smiled.

"A place I have a feeling you'll like a lot better," she told him, opening the door to the basement. She had always hated having her room in the basement, but now she thanked her parents for practically forcing her to sleep down there when her younger sister was born and took over her upstairs room. She knew Erik would like the basement room a lot more.

"I highly doubt I'll enjoy it. Erik would much rather be in his home on the lake," he scoffed. Kristina rolled her eyes.

"I know, but this is the best you're going to get," she said. She hesitated as she reached for the doorknob. "Could you wait here a second?" She dashed in before waiting for an answer and quickly raided her bookshelf. _It should be here somewhere…There it is! Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux! _She took it off the shelf and looked around for some place to hide it. She couldn't have Erik finding it and reading it! Eventually she decided on the generic hiding place, under the bed. The book was soon joined by the CD soundtrack and the 2004 DVD. Once her room was officially de-Phantomized, she opened the door to Erik. "Ok, you can come in now!" She saw him straighten up a little, seeming to try and hide his happiness.

"It's in the basement _and_ it has no windows?" he asked, calmly. Kristina nodded.

"That's not all, it gets better!" she exclaimed, flicking on the light switch.

"That makes it worse not better," Erik grumbled, bringing a hand up to block the light from his eyes.

"Just wait," she said, sliding the bar on the switch down. The lights slowly dimmed to half the brightness. His eyes lit up and she smiled. "I thought you'd like that. Feel free to choose how bright you want it." He nodded.

Erik stood staring at the light switch, and Kristina watched him awkwardly from the centre of the room.

"Before my parents get back, we've got to set a few rules if you're going to be staying in my house," she started, but Erik cut her off.

"No need. I'll be gone by morning," Erik informed her. Kristina looked at him in shock.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She frowned. There was no way she was going to let Erik-t_he real Erik!-_leave. She had found the real Phantom of the Opera, how could she let him slip away?

"I couldn't possibly force my company on someone who's been as kind as you. Once Erik is well rested, Erik will find somewhere else to stay. An abandoned building perhaps. Erik does not want to stay when he is not wanted," he explained, his glowing yellow eyes fixed on the floor.

"I _do _want you here though. Why else would I have invite you to come back here with me?" she pointed out.

"There is no one who wants Erik's company, only people who are smart enough to know when they shouldn't refuse it," he said sadly.

"I don't see why you would think that," Kristina argued. "You don't seem like too bad a person to me, minus the slight…okay, major anger issues, but that-" She felt herself slam against the wall with a _thud!_ She looked up and saw Erik leaning over her, pinning her against the wall.

"You don't know me," he said in a low growl. He pulled away, leaving Kristina wide-eyed against a wall.

"No, I don't…" she said slowly, realising he was right. She had read the books, seen the movies, and memorized the songs, she was a huge phangirl, but she only knew Erik the character, not Erik the person. She didn't know him. "But I'd like to." She decided, smiling at him. Both were silent for some time. Finally, Erik spoke.

"We'll see if you still think that tomorrow," he said.

Before either could speak again, they heard a door open and a jumble of voices pour in.

"We're home!" One of them called down the stairs, making both occupants of Kristina's room freeze.

"Um…" Kristina looked around wildly for a place to hide Erik, but it was impossible. "Just…stay here! Stay here, and stay _silent!_" she advised quietly. With that she slipped out the door, leaving the Phantom alone with his thoughts.

~X~X~X~X~

She wanted his company. She wanted to get to know him. She wanted him. Erik had never been wanted before. Even the daroga, the only man he might possibly consider a friend, merely tolerated him. Never wanted him. Kristina did.

But she didn't know him. Even she admitted it. _But she wanted to! _Only because she didn't know him. If she knew him she would wish she didn't. _Or would she…?_

He mentally cursed the confusing girl for giving him hope that someone might accept him. For giving him hope that someone as warm, as soft, as _alive _as her could like him and get to know him as if he was just a normal person. It wasn't possible. Because Erik wasn't a normal person, he wasn't like anyone else. He was different, and he always would be. But maybe this girl was different too?

**Is Kristina different? Will Erik be the Phantom that he is and be gone by the time morning comes? Will Erik and Kristina manage to keep Erik's presence in her bedroom a secret from her parents? Stay tuned dear readers, for the next chapter of Phangirl or Lover?**

**Authoress Note: Here's the next chapter! Hope you guys enjoy, and REVIEW!**

**Erik: Erik doesn't like it when you read and don't review. Erik has a tendency to Punjab people he doesn't like. Review, and save yourself the feeling of fear and not being able to sleep at night.**

**Me: Erik! You can't threaten people into reviewing!**

**Erik: I just did.**

**Me: *face palm***


	5. Chapter 5

**IGGYsLover- I know right? XD**

**SexyKnickers-Thanks ^_^ Yep let's hope so because that would be **_**bad**_

**Axelion the Vampire Phantom- Erik: *glares* You really don't know when to keep your mouth shut do you? *gets out Punjab***

**Me: Help? Uh…how about some advice? Run faster.**

**PhantomWaffles -That's what I'd do. Tie him to the bed or something =P But of course they will be. Is there any other kind of breakfast food?**

**chloeknightshade27-Erik: See, I knew my way of getting people to review would work.**

**Me: Good job Erik!**

**And thanks for the compliments! ^_^**

**BamYurrDead- Your username is awesome! And yeah, that probably wasn't the best idea. True, but not a very smart thing to say. Hehe, you'll see!**

**LadyCavalier- Thank you! Erik can be adorable when he wants to be can't he? I know, I'm so jeaous of her! I want an Erik…Same, I always look for him in the box seats of theatres, just in case. **

**Well, up here we live in igloos and have pet polar bears which double as our main form of transportation. We also eat maple syrup with every meal, which is why I like waffles so much. And hockey is a mandatory subject in school.**

**Just kidding =P Canada's actually not much different from America, as far as I know. I've only ever been to Chicago, and some little town near Chicago, so I don't really know…There are more big buildings in Chicago than most places I've been here, except maybe Toronto. But other than that, (from what I know) they're pretty much the same. **

**DISCLAIMER: I own the Phantom of the Opera. *pulls Erik towards her* See? He's all mine!**

**Erik: *sigh* She doesn't own me. Nor does she own anything Phantom of the Opera related. Leroux does. Though technically, as Erik is a real person, only Erik owns Erik! This "Gaston Leroux" has no right to claim him!**

**Me: And the songs belong to Andrew Lloyd Webber!**

Chapter 5

"Erik?" Kristina called softly, tapping on the door. She had managed to sit through an entire dinner with her parents without making them at all suspicious of her activities in their absence,.

"You don't need to ask permission to come into your own room," a quiet voice that sounded as if it was right in front of her replied. Kristina rolled her eyes and walked in.

"You and your ventriloquism," she said, fighting the urge to let out a phangirlish squeal. "Anyways, I convinced my parents to let me finish my dinner down here. You hungry?" she asked, holding out a plate of chicken and potatoes to him.

Erik nodded and took them gratefully. While he ate, Kristina gathered a few blankets and pillows and put them on the floor. Erik set aside the now empty plate and looked down at the makeshift bed.

"I assume this is for me?" he guessed.

"What? No! Of course not!" Kristina shook her head. "What kind of hostess would I be if I made you sleep on the floor? No, you get the bed. I'll sleep on the floor."

"No, no, Erik doesn't wish to be too much of an inconvenience to you," he protested, but Kristina didn't listen.

"I don't mind at all! Besides, the more comfortable you are, the more likely you are to want to stay here," she explained, blushing. She quickly composed herself. "So as long as you don't mind The Little Mermaid bed sheets, this ends this discussion." She put her hands on her hips to show him she meant what she said. He seemed to get the hint because he didn't object any further. He did ask one question though:

"Who or what is the little mermaid?" he asked.

"It's a movie," she explained. He just looked even more confused.

"What's a movie?"

Kristina forgot about just how little Erik knew about the modern world. And by taking him in she had assumed the responsibility of teaching him about it all. But not tonight.

"I'll show you some other time. I'm tired," she yawned to prove her point. _That and the more curious you are the more you'll want to stay…_she added silently. Erik frowned but didn't ask again. Once Kristina had quickly changed into her pyjamas in the bathroom, she returned to her room and dumped her laundry in the laundry basket.

Erik was already lying down in Kristina's bed when she turned the lights off and got into her own "bed". She pulled the covers around her and curled up into a cat-like ball.

"Goodnight Erik!" she called to him. She saw his yellow eyes widen as he stared at her.

"Um…goodnight Kristina," he replied awkwardly, as if saying 'goodnight' was a foreign ritual to him.

Kristina closed her eyes, praying with all her heart that Erik would still be there when she woke up. Before she even completed this thought, Erik spoke again.

"There's a light coming from over there," he said, pointing to something on the other side of the room.

"It's probably just my iPod. I must have left it on in my pocket," she answered.

"What's an iPod?" Erik asked, leaning over the side of the bed to look down at her.

"It's a music player," she explained. "I'll show you tomorrow," she added, hoping he'd take the hint and let her sleep.

"So it's an instrument?" he asked, clearly oblivious. She sighed.

"No, it's like…" She paused, trying to remember what they were called. "Like a gramophone! Only it has over a hundred songs on it and it uses computer storage type things, not whatever records use. I'll explain better tomorrow when I'm not falling asleep," she added, before he had a chance to ask more questions.

She saw him nod and his glowing eyes disappeared. Kristina closed her eyes and felt herself drifting off to sleep.

"Can I see it?"

Kristina groaned. "Go ahead," she grumbled. She heard him get up and cross the room, then return. She waited for the next inevitable question.

"How do I work this?"

"Put those things on the cords in your ears. Press the button in the middle." she explained shortly, struggling not to pass out. She heard Erik move around a bit, following her directions. Then he was silent. She closed her eyes. Would it be too much to hope that she'd actually be allowed to sleep?

"What was _that_?" Sigh. Apparently it would. She opened her eyes in time to see the iPod fly across her room and Erik backed away from it.

"Music. I told you that," she replied.

"No. That was not music. Music has notes and a tune. That was an inarticulate man speaking very fast and _loud,_" he argued. "And his words didn't even have any feeling behind them! _That_ was not music."

"It's called rap music," Kristina explained once she's guessed what he was complaining about.

"Again, you say music? Believe me, I know music and that…that _noise _was NOT music!" he repeated.

"My family is going to hear you if you get much louder!" she warned as his voice raised. "It's a new kind of music," she explained further. Erik scoffed.

"If this is the music of your era, then I give up on your generation!" he sneered.

"There is music on there, _real _music," she defended her iPod. "Just keep looking. Or don't. But whatever you do, _please_ let me sleep!" she begged. Erik nodded sheepishly and closed his eyes. Kristina did the same and soon she was fast asleep.

~X~X~X~X~

Erik lied down stiffly in the bed. He shut his eyes and tried to relax but he couldn't. There were too many thoughts racing around in his head. Missing his house on the lake and his theatre, worrying about the managers destroying his opera house, amazement at the new things of 2011, _the fact that he was in the year 2011_-in Canada!-, his suspicion that this was all just a dream, hoping that it was and he'd open his eyes to his precious theatre, hoping that it wasn't so he could have a chance to learn more about this strange world, wondering what that strange door was and where it came from, Kristina…

Normally he'd play his organ to clear his thoughts, let music fill his mind and push the worries away, but his organ wasn't here. In this strange house in this strange time, all he had was Kristina.

"Kristina?" he called her name softly. The only response was the girl's slow, deep breathing. He got out of bed and looked down at her, reaching out to wake her up. He hesitated. She looked so calm and peaceful that he couldn't bring himself to disturb her, and ended up just brushing a curl of hair from her face.

He looked from her to the now empty bed. _Well if I'm not going to use it…_He gently kneeled down and put an arm under Kristina's shoulders and legs. Slowly, he lifted her and placed her down in the bed, pulling the covers over her sleeping figure. He turned to look at the door. Should he leave? Since there was no point in trying to rest with everything going on in his head, Erik had no reason to be there in the kind strangers house. But she had wanted him to stay…He shook his head. She'd be better off without him.

He started to walk to the door when he felt something under his foot. He reached down to pick it up and saw Kristina's 'eye pod'. He was amazed by the little device, even if it did have a horrid taste in music. If he left, would he ever learn its secrets? Would he come across another stranger kind enough to teach someone like him the wonders of this era? Could he even find someone who'd believe that he was from the late 1800s?

He sighed in defeat and sat down on the floor. He would at least wait until tomorrow. It would be cruel to leave the girl while she slept. He put the little things back into his ears. He didn't have anything else to do, and Kristina had told him there was real music in this device.

He turned it on and clicked buttons until a song began playing. He listened, captivated by the sweet, sad lyrics.

_Child of the wilderness_

_Born into emptiness_

_Learn to be lonely_

_Learn to find your way in darkness_

_Who will be there for you?_

_Comfort and care for you?_

_Learn to be lonely_

_Learn to be your one companion_

_Never dreamed out in the world_

_There are arms to hold you_

_You've always known_

_Your heart was on it's own_

_So laugh in your loneliness_

_Child of the wilderness_

_Learn to be lonely_

_Learn how to love life that is lived alone_

_Learn to be lonely_

_Life can be lived, life can be loved_

_Alone_

By the time the song had ended, the Phantom had fallen into a deep sleep, tears falling from his eyes at the similarities the song had to his own poor, pitiful life.

**Erik has indeed learned to be lonely. But could it be that there **_**is **_**someone in the world to be there for Erik? Someone to comfort and care for him? Arms to hold him? And could this person be sitting in the same room as him at this very moment? *hint hint* Stay tuned, dear readers, for the next chapter of Phangirl or Lover!**

**Authoress Note: Poor Erik. Seems like Kristina's phangirlish love for Erik won't exempt him from the typical teenage "If I'm sleeping, SHUT UP!" rule.**

**The song, by the way, is "Learn to be Lonely" by Minnie Driver. I love it, but hate it at the same time. It's a great song but it makes me sad…**

**Erik: Try having flashbacks to a life that matches the song perfectly each time you listen to the song…**

**Me: *hugs Erik* You don't need to be lonely though, you have me!**

**Remember everyone: All Eriks need a hug sometimes ^_^ Review and you get to hug Erik!**

**Erik: Why must it always be me that gives things to reviewers?**

**Me: Because you need a hug! *hugs Erik again***

**Erik: *blushes***

**Me: See, isn't he adorable?**

**Erik: *blushes more* You can stop now.**

**Me: No! You're too adorable! *snuggles with Erik* Stay tuned for the next chapter readers!**


	6. Chapter 6

**StrawberryStoleYourCookie: Don't worry about it, I was four days late on updating so I guess we're even! *gasp* She took your Blackberry? How did you survive? =P**

**That's so awesome, the dress and the mask match so well too. I want a Phantom mask, I'm so jealous!**

**Thanks, and I agree! As Erik said, music has a tune. Everyone who tells me that rap is music, I tell them if they can hum a rap song so that others can recognize it, then I'll admit it's music. I've never heard of Lecrae.**

**Axelion the Vampire Phantom: Erik: *to Axelion's Erik* Why on earth did you not teach her to sing? I've heard dying elephants with more musical sense than that!**

**Me: Erik, that's over exaggerating! Don't listen to him, he's still sore about the Punjab thing.**

**That would be awful, because then he'd be insulted at hearing Gerard Butler sing and being told that's supposed to sound like him. **

**Well, she does have to introduce him to movies somehow. I like that idea!**

**Erik: Well I don't!**

**Me: Oh come on Erik, you like that movie!Erik: Just because I sing along with the songs doesn't mean I enjoy the movie…**

**Me: Suuuure**

**BamYurrDead: Hehe. Well, Erik wouldn't know how to spell iPod, and I like playing with words like that. Nope, Erik's being pulled into the world of twenty-first century music now!**

**PhantomWaffles: I LOVE NUTELLA! Yep, we have it in North America! I've never had it on waffles though, the idea never even crossed my mind. I'll have to try that as soon as I can convince my mom to get some waffles…**

**Erik: Wait, you live in Europe? You want me to come all the way to Europe?**

**Me: Come on Erik, I promised people hugs from you so stop complaining!**

**Erik: Fine. *flies to Europe and hugs PhantomWaffles* There.**

**VictoryTastesLikeChocolate: I agree with your username! Everything good tastes like chocolate…And I guess she was just tired. If she was tired enough to not want to talk to Erik, she was tired enough to forget that. **

**I didn't even realise that, it is sort of ironic isn't it?**

**He'd be very insulted. "That attractive man with the sunburn is supposed to be **_**me? **_**He sings worse than that Carlotta! And he's as emotional as a teenage girl! That is not me at all!" Not that I mind Gerik _that_ much...I just don't think Leroux Erik=Gerik**

**SexyKnickers: Would you let Erik leave if you had him in your basement? Didn't think so =P**

Chapter 6

Kristina yawned and sat up in her bed. Wait, bed?

"Erik!" she shouted, snapping her eyes open and jumping out of the bed .Erik had been in the bed when she'd gone to sleep. If he wasn't in it now that could only mean one thing.

_I should've known he'd leave! Why did I fall asleep without doing something to ensure he stayed? Now he's gone and I'll probably never find him again! Why did I have to be so stupid! How could I have- _Her silent rant was cut short when she tripped over something on her way to the door. She looked down at it and immediately a sense of relief flushed through her. It was Erik, curled up on the floor with her iPod headphones still in his ears.

Her heart skipped a beat. _He stayed!_ Erik was in _her_ room sleeping on _her _floor! How many phangirls could say that? She jumped when he stirred slight, his eyes starting to flutter open.

"Erik?" she whispered tentatively. His eyes immediately snapped open and before Kristina knew what was happening the cords of her headphones were wrapped around her neck.

"Oh, right. It's you," Erik sighed in relief and quickly released her, placing the headphones back in his ears. Then he glared down at her. "Don't _ever _wake me up or sneak up on me, EVER!" he scolded coldly.

"You just tried to strangle me and now you're speaking as if _I'm _the one who'd done wrong?" she scoffed, rubbing her sore neck. Erik flushed.

"You're right. Erik is terribly sorry mademoiselle," he apologised, bowing his head sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it, you can't help instinct," she smiled. "Would you like some breakfast?"

"No," Erik shook his head. "Erik ate yesterday, so Erik doesn't need food today," he explained, still stuck in third person.

"You're supposed to eat three times every day, not once every few days," she pointed out.

"_You_ can do that. But _I _don't. _I_ only eat once in a while," he said stubbornly. "Besides, Erik should be leaving," he added, looking towards the door.

"No!" Kristina stood between him and the exit. "Please stay, at least for breakfast," she pleaded. Erik glared at her.

"I told you, I won't eat!" he repeated.

"Then I won't let you leave!" Kristina retorted, earning a humourless laugh from the Phantom.

"You think you could stop me? I, who only moments earlier had you completely at my mercy?" he sneered.

Kristina brought her hand up to her eyes but Erik only laughed more.

"There are other ways to kill a person, girl." he warned. She sighed and lowered her hand, earning a shocked look from Erik. "You surrender?" he asked.

_As if! _she thought to herself. She wasn't letting him leave. She had just decided to try a different approach. "Please, Erik? Please stay here and eat breakfast with me?" she begged.

~X~X~X~X~

She was begging now. People had begged to Erik before, but they usually begged for their lives, not for his company. The look on her face was different as well. Normally, people pleaded with wide fearful eyes and their mouths open wide with horror. Kristina's eyes were wide as well, but wide and…shiny? Her mouth was turned down into a girlish pout, her bottom lip stuck out slightly. He found his eyes lingering on her lips. They were beautiful and full, unlike his own dead, deformed mouth. He found himself wondering what they would feel like…He blushed, mentally shaking out all the fantasies that had just entered his mind. He was grateful his mask hid the effects of these indecent thoughts from the innocent child in front of him, this sweet girl who asked politely- even _begged- _for his company. He sighed in defeat.

"Fine. I will join you. And perhaps I might eat something as well, if only to be polite," he surrendered. The girl's face burst into a huge, bright grin and Erik's eyes narrowed suspiciously. There was no way she could be so genuinely happy that she had the company of a monster…

"Great! Let's go get some waffles," she exclaimed, leading him upstairs. Erik followed her reluctantly up to the kitchen.

When they got there, the girl opened a tall white cupboard that seemed to emit cold air and pulled out a box. Erik watched curiously as she pulled out two waffles and put them in a box-like machine he couldn't identify. Kristina pushed a part of the device down and the waffles were pulled inside it.

"Could you wait here for a few minutes? I'm going to go get dressed, ok?" she whispered. He nodded and she took off downstairs leaving Erik to examine the strange machine. When he looked inside it he saw the two round waffles held by glowing metal grids…

As interesting as he found the strange box, he doubted he could discover more about it without taking it apart, and he was fairly certain his hostess would approve of that. That left him alone with one thought…to leave or not to leave?

He looked out the kitchen to the front door. He could leave, and she wouldn't be there to stop him with her sweet begging and kind words. He could just slip away, leaving her to wonder whether or not he had even existed. But did he want to? Did he want to leave what could be the only human being who would ever give him a chance? Or this amazing new world filled with strange things he couldn't have dreamt up if he tried?And could his conscience, twisted as it was, allow him to leave this girl, a girl who had gone as far as to _beg _him for his company, without a trace? Would she really care if he left? Could she possibly care about him as much as any other stranger, even though she'd caught a glimpse of his face and knew most of his bloody past? Would it upset her to find he was gone? Would she cry?

He remembered how her golden eyes lit up when he'd agreed to stay a while longer. He imagined tears welling up in those same eyes. Because of him.

So there was his answer. He could leave. But he didn't want to. The girl was…interesting. Besides, what would he do if he left? Find a way to get all the way to Paris in the hope that his home under his opera house was still standing? There was too much guessing in that plan. Too many things that could go wrong and leave him stranded and alone once more…

_Pop!_

~X~X~X~X~

Kristina had reached the doorway of the kitchen when the toaster popped. At least, that's what she guessed had happened. She couldn't really hear it over the sound of Erik crashing into the kitchen table.

"Shhh!" she scolded. "You're going to wake my parents!"

"Erik didn't mean to," he whispered back, embarrassed. "That…_thing _made a noise and…" he trailed off, as if realising how childish he sounded. Kristina sighed.

"They didn't have toasters in whatever time you come from, did they." It was a statement, not a question. Something she should have known. Maybe Erik's presence alone could persuade her to do what her teacher had been trying to get her to do all semester: actually open a history textbook?

"I'm sorry, it's my fault for not warning you. Do you need a hand?" she asked, reaching down to him.

He looked at her hand suspiciously and brushed it away as he stood up, as he had when they'd first met only a day before. But she noticed his refusal held less contempt but more suspicion. As if she might have some ulterior motive for being kind to him.

She ignored this and was about to return to their waffles when she heard a creak in the hallway.

"Oh great, someone's up!" Kristina looked at Erik in panic. The stairs were in the hallway, meaning she couldn't sneak him back down to her room. "Do something!" she whispered urgently to Erik.

"What?" he whispered back, as panicked as she was.

"You're the Phantom! Be…Phantomy!"

"How do you expect me to do that with not only no trap doors, but no knowledge of this building?" he hissed back.

In a sudden surge of inspiration she quickly grabbed his arm and dragged him around a corner to the closet. She quickly opened the door and nudged him towards it, silently telling him to hide in it. She silenced his protests with a stern glare and a finger to her lips. Then she quickly ran back to the kitchen.

Her mom was sitting at the kitchen table when she got there, and she looked up as Kristina entered.

"Why are you up so early?" She asked. Her eyes showed suspicion, but she didn't seem to have any idea Kristina had just hidden a strange, semi-psychotic man in their closet.

"I just happened to wake up, I do that sometimes," she said casually, knowing her mom wouldn't see a problem with that. That was normal for her, even if it was a Sunday. What her mom would be suspicious of was…

"You don't usually come upstairs until at least ten, and you rarely have breakfast," she pointed out, as Kristina had been dreading.

"Well that's when we don't have waffles." _Or the Phantom of the Opera! _"And I didn't have anything else to do, so I thought I'd get breakfast," she added, hoping her mom would buy it. Even if she didn't Kristina was pretty sure she wasn't going to go checking all the closets for uninvited guests.

"Whatever you say," her mom concluded, returning to her book. Kristina let out a sigh of relief and went back to the waffles. She quickly stuck them on a plate, grabbed a container of Nutella from the cupboard and rushed out the door, calling a quick goodbye over her shoulder to her mother.

She took the long way to the stairs so she could walk by the closet, giving it a small tap as she passed. Erik, with more speed and grace than she thought humanly possible, slipped out of the closet without making a sound and followed Kristina down the stairs. She noticed he looked like he could barely keep himself from speaking, which she expected after she shoved him into a closet. She just hoped it wouldn't make him change his mind about eating.

When they finally got to the sanctuary of her room, Erik turned on her, as she'd expected, and took a deep breath, preparing to speak.

"_You_ don't usually eat breakfast, but _I _have to?" he asked, slightly amused but also annoyed.

"I…wait, what?" That wasn't what she had expected him to say.

"Your mother said you don't normally eat breakfast. Yet only moments earlier you told me that three meals a day was necessary. Care to explain yourself, hypocrite?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"Well," she started, thinking of what to say. "You don't look like you eat a lot. And since you're leaving soon," _Or so you think…_ "I figured you should eat as much as possible, since you don't know when you'll be able to eat next," she explained.

"Fair enough, but you needn't worry about that. I have money," he said, grinning fiendishly. Before she could ask him what he meant, he continued. "And second of all, you locked me in a closet?" he asked with indignation.

"Well, you weren't doing anything. So I did," she explained, shrugging. He opened his mouth, probably to complain more, but she silenced him by shoving a Nutella covered waffle towards him along with a fork and a knife.. "Here, dig in."

"Dig in? Why would I dig into this? Are you only supposed to eat the middle? Or perhaps you're asking me to bury it?" he wondered, confused.

"Oh, right. You're from the 1800s. Oops. It's slang, it means eat," she explained sheepishly. She really had to research the 1800s. Or maybe she should just speak like Shakespeare? _Wanteth thou thy waffles, kind sir? _She chuckled to herself at the thought. Erik stared at her.

"Are all people from this time as mental as you are?" he wondered aloud.

"Nope," she assured him. He seemed relieved. "Some are even worse!" she added, making him slouch down again in disappointment. She laughed and went back to eating her waffle.

Erik slowly, cautiously did the same. The second the piece of waffle got in his mouth his eyes lit up.

"This is great! What genius invented this?" he asked, eagerly taking another bite.

"I dunno, Eggo?" she guessed, smiling at his reaction. Erik was too busy eating to respond. They continued to eat in silence until Erik's fork crashed to the floor. Kristina was shocked, until he stood up in outrage and growled angrily, shoving the iPod in her face:

"What the hell is this?"

**What has Erik so shaken up? (As if it's really that hard to guess...) Stay tuned, dear readers, for the next chapter of Phangirl or Lover?**

**Authoress Note: Sorry it's late! I was busy the weekend, and Friday was Friday the 13th**

**Erik: And she was far too cowardly to do much other than list the ways everything that happened could go wrong.**

**Not a coward Erik, just paranoid!**

**Erik: Because of a number on a calendar. **

…**I'm superstitious, so sue me. Anyways, terribly sorry dear readers. I'll update again ASAP!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Little Luxa: Free waffles for you for that amusing rant about waffles!**

**The mental image of Erik getting freaked out from a toaster was too amusing to not include that!**

**iPods have wallpapers? I don't actually have an iPod…hehe…I just buy those "digital media player" things that look like iPods but are only like 1/3 the price. But they definitely have every Phantom song, and some LND songs too!**

**MyraValhalla: You'll have to read and find out~**

**Thanks!**

**BamYurrDead: The cute and cuddly/puppy dog eyes look works every time! Even Erik has a soft spot!  
><strong>

**Nightrose1831: That's awesome! If you do write yours, I'd like to read it. As bad a phan as I feel for saying this, I haven't actually read all of Susan Kay's Phantom yet. I ordered it online a while ago and it should be here soon…**

**Thanks!**

**PhantomWaffles: Obvious isn't necessarily bad! And Erik was happy to visit you!**

**Erik: Now you speak for me as well?**

**Me: Yep! Enjoy the chapter everyone!**

**Erik: And we just noticed the silly Authoress forgot to put a disclaimer in for however many chapters. Kristina/xXRoseOfDarknessXx does not own Phantom of the Opera, nor does she own any of its adaptations. Please don't sue her.**

**Axelion the Vampire Phantom: Erik: Oh thank the angels and gods of all things musical, I was worried she actually sounded like that!**

**Me: Erik, apologise for being mean!**

**Erik: *sarcastically* Yes mother...*sighs* Sorry Mademoiselle Axelion.**

**Kristina: Can I join you guys hiding in there? **

**Lady Cavalier: Erik: I knew this would happen. You can hug me if you hide me from those other scary fangirls. *hugs Lady Cavalier***

**Haha, yes it's very "cool". Wow, America sounds...fun. Lots of people smoke here too, and almost everyone at my school does some sort of drugs. I know more people who are addicted to Tim Horton's than McDonald's, but McDonald's is pretty popular here too. Um...I don't think we've got all those other problems...**

**iPods are great plot devices! You know of me?**

**Oh. My. Opera Ghost! (If you're reading this, I hope you don't mind Luxa, that's become a habit for me to say that too...hehe...) Those lyrics are brilliant! You're a genius! I love them so much! I will definitely be including that, and I will credit you because you're the GENIUS who came up with those, it's great! And I have No One Would Listen on my mp3 player, so I don't need YouTube. Wow I can't get over that, I'm seriously in love with those lyrics. **

Chapter 7

"What the hell is this?" Erik shouted angrily, putting the iPod only a few inches from Kristina's face. She looked at the screen and read the words, suddenly understanding his issue and cursing her own stupidity, because scrolling by the screen were the words: _Music of the Night-Michael Crawford. _And beneath that: _Album: Phantom of the Opera._

"It's just a song," she said, hoping she could pass it off as a coincidence. "I don't see what the big deal is." She was pretty sure she could just pass it off as a coincidence that the album was called 'Phantom of the Opera'.

"This is _not _just a song! Who wrote this? I swear to God or Hell or whatever you want me to swear on that if you don't tell me who wrote this damned song I will find out myself and _I will hunt them down_!" he growled furiously.

"Erik, calm down!" she warned. She didn't understand why he was getting so worked up over this. She thought he'd be confused, not angry. "My parents-"

"Damn your parents girl, _who wrote this?_" he snarled, grabbing her roughly by her arm and burning into her with his intense yellow eyes that now were like yellow flames, ready to devour anything in their path.

"What is your problem?" she shouted back, glaring at him. She understood, he was freaked out. But that didn't give him a reason to hurt her. "Listen, Erik," she started, calmer. "Please tell me, what's wrong?" She reached out and put a hand on his shoulder soothingly. Erik slowly let her go, but she could still see the anger in his eyes and hear his heart pounding.

"This song…it's Erik's song. Erik wrote this song for Erik. Only Erik is supposed to know this song. Erik's song is for Erik's ears only, no one else's," he explained, clenching his fists.

"You wrote the Music of the Night?" she realised in amazement. No wonder it was such a good song compared to some of Andrew Lloyd Webber's other songs.

Erik winced, as if he didn't like hearing anyone else say the title of his precious masterpiece.

"Yes. It's Erik's song, Erik's secret song which he never planned to share with anyone. Never…" he trailed off sadly. His eyes hardened once more. "And Erik will hunt down and kill the man foolish enough to steal Erik's song and spread his secrets. Was it this Michael Crawford man?" he asked, indicating the name scrolling across the screen.

"No!" Kristina assured him quickly. He couldn't kill Michael Crawford, he was brilliant! "No, Michael Crawford is just the singer. Someone else wrote it."

"For God's sake woman, who?" he asked, losing his temper once more.

"Erik, this was after you…" she stopped. That's right, Erik had…died. She could barely think the words, she certainly couldn't bring herself to say it. "After you weren't here anymore. He didn't know it was your song, he must have just found it under the opera house and thought it was so brilliant it shouldn't go to waste." She wondered if Don Juan Triumphant existed as well, and why that hadn't been made famous by Andrew Lloyd Webber as well. Perhaps Erik destroyed it before he…left.

"And he decided to steal another artist's work and pass it off as his own?" Erik asked, glaring.

"Did you write your name on any of your work?" she asked. He shook his head. "Then he can't have known who wrote it. He probably wouldn't have been able to publish it if he didn't pretend he'd written and composed it." She waited for him to respond but he was silent. "It's a beautiful song," she added, hoping that might help.

"It is a beautiful song meant to stay in darkness. It loses all meaning if it's seen by the light. My song has been contaminated by taking it from its land of night where it's meant to be," he said, desperately.

"If it makes you feel any better, I only listen to that song during the night time, and I turn the lights off to listen to it," she told him, blushing at admitting this strange habit.

"Really? Is that the truth?" Erik stared at her. She nodded.

"As you said, it loses its meaning if it's heard in the day," she explained.

"At least one person respects my music the way it should be," Erik said, looking at her thoughtfully. Kristina blushed under his stare. "But this man doesn't sing it right. Granted, he has quite a good voice, but only Erik can sing this song the way it should be sung."

Kristina didn't even bother asking him to sing it for her. After his outburst about it being his secret song, she guessed he was going to keep at least the sound of _his_ voice singing it a secret from everyone. Plus, it was morning, not night. They sat in silence for at least another minute, Erik absorbed in his thoughts and Kristina trying to find a way to break the silence.

"Let's watch a movie!" she shouted abruptly, almost knocking Erik over in shock.

"What?"

"A movie! You asked yesterday what that was. So now I'll show you!" she said, quickly running to the door. "And I'll get one that answers another question you asked yesterday too," she said with a grin. Before Erik could protest, she was out the door.

"But I thought I was leaving after breakfast!" he called after her, but she was already gone. Erik sighed. He couldn't leave now, his curiosity was too high. He supposed he could stay at least a while longer. Besides, he couldn't leave yet. He was still in a state of shock at finding his song was so well known. His secret song. He sighed again and sat back to wait, preparing himself for the next strange discovery.

**What movie will Kristina choose for them? Will Erik leave after that? What methods will Kristina use next to keep him with her? Find out, dear readers, in the next chapter of **_**Phangirl or Lover?**_

**Authoress Note: Yes, I really do only listen to the Music of the Night at night time, and with the lights off, or at least dimmed. Not that it isn't a beautiful song in the daylight, but... there's just something about night. As Erik says "night time sharpens, heightens each sensation"**

**And about that line about Music of the Night being better than ALW's other songs, I don't mean to insult any ALW songs! I love them all. I just love Music of the Night more.**

**So lots of you were right when you said it was a POTO song. But I bet you assumed he was upset by the words Phantom of the Opera, not the song itself! Did I surprise you? Well? Did I? Was that at least somewhat unexpected?**

**Erik: Begging for praise? That's quite low.**

**Me: I'm not begging! I'm just...encouraging.**

**Erik: *sighs***

**Me: Read and review everyone!**

**Erik: Those who do get the satisfaction of knowing they've brought joy to Mademoiselle Kristina, and, I'll admit, a bit of what I suppose could be called joy to myself. Those who don't...*swinging Punjab* I bet you can guess.**

**Me: Oh sure begging is low but threats are just fine. *rolls eyes* **


	8. Chapter 8

**382jollytumgirl: I'm so sorry! I didn't answer your review last chapter. Well, now you know I guess =P And finally someone else agrees! I spent the whole day all superstitious and everyone else was just ignoring the fact that it was Friday the 13 like it didn't matter!**

**PhantomWaffles: They can't watch those movies because I haven't seen them…But thanks for the suggestions!**

**BamYurrDead: Erik would probably like that better than any other kind of movie. I can definitely see him knowing all the songs from all the Disney movies!**

**Little Luxa: That's what I do too! That's awesome, I didn't think anyone else thought the same way about that song. I agree, it's my favourite song!**

**YES! The Marauders rock! I haven't had the pleasure of seeing Sweeney Todd yet though…**

**Waffles make everything more enjoyable!**

**Yay! Oh I know exactly**** what I'm doing with this! **

**Sure you can borrow him, after Kristina's done making him watch movies. **

**Erik: I don't get a say in this?**

**Me: Nope! **

**Woland666: Thanks! It's supposed to sound pretty bad, we all know how Erik gets when anyone tries to take off his mask. And I agree, 21 is very young for Erik, but for one of the things I have planned for him later he has to be young enough to be able to pass for within a year of Kristina's age, 16. 21 was the oldest I thought he'd be able to pull off. Also I had to make it before he knew Christine.**

**MyraValhalla: Thanks! **

**Disclaimer**

**Erik: Kristina doesn't own POTO or anything POTO related. But she does own Disney! Ha, now you're going to get sued!**

**Me: No, I don't own Disney! **_**Oh wait, yes I do! **_**Erik, that doesn't count! **_**I don't know what I'm talking about. **_**ERIK! Stop ventriloquising me! **_**That's not a word…**_**Speak through your own mouth dammit!**

**Erik: *smirking* **

**Me: On with the story…**

Chapter 8

Erik's song was famous. His secret song, his music of the night, was in the spotlight, the last place he wanted it to be, and people all over the world were listening to it in ways it was not meant to be heard, sung by a man who sings well, but not in the way it was meant to be sung. Those words were only meant ot be sung by him, the tune for his ears only.

He suddenly felt exposed. He knew everyone knew of his legend, Kristina had already told him that. But she hadn't told him that everyone knew his innermost thoughts. No one else deserved to hear them. No one else could understand, no one else could possibly know the beauty and magic of the night and darkness.

Except her. She understood that his song must only be listened to at night under the protection of darkness, that it wasn't to be touched by the light of day. From the look in her eyes when she spoke of it she loved it almost as much as he did. She seemed to know how sacred it was. At least one person in the world shared his love and admiration for the night.

Finally, Kristina returned carrying a box. _Why is everything from this generation either in a box or shaped as a box? _he wondered.

"I brought us a movie!" she exclaimed happily, holding it out for him to see. Erik took it from her and examined it.

"This is a movie? It doesn't look as exciting as I'd expected," he admitted, trying to find the point of the strange box.

"No, silly, you put it in a DVD player. It's like a gramophone. But much, much better," she tried to explain.

"Why does everything your generation has seem to be an improvement of something my generation invented?" he asked, remembering that she had also compared the eye pod to a gramophone.

"Because we're not as creative. Just smarter," she teased. Erik rolled his eyes as Kristina pulled out a circle thing, which did look a lot like a record, and put it in another box like device. Then she picked up yet another box shaped item and sat down next to Erik, facing a much larger black box.

He froze. She was sitting right next to him. She was so close, he could reach out and touch her…not that he would. But he could still feel warmth exuding from her. And it was still enough to make him slightly uncomfortable, being so unused to human interaction. This feeling faded away, however, when the movie started.

The black box suddenly started to show colours and words. Erik stared at it in amazement.

"How is it doing that?" he asked in wonder.

"Er…lots of pictures," she started. "And then the DVD has some sort of…memory storage or something and lights make pictures…" She sighed. "I wish you could talk to my step dad, he knows how things like that work." Erik shrugged.

"Sometimes it's nice not to know how things work, at least for a while. If there's no scientific reasoning, you can think of it as magic," he explained, still staring at the screen. "So is what's on this screen real?" he asked.

"Nope, this is a cartoon. They're just drawings." She explained.

"And what's the point in looking at these moving drawings?" he wondered.

"It's kind of like an opera but…not at all. It's got a story and songs," Erik practically lit up at the mention of music. "But they're all in English first of all, and it's a different style of music."

A title appeared announcing that they were going to be watching "The Little Mermaid," which was followed by a girl with red hair and a green tail swimming around an abandoned ship.

"Ah, this is that 'movie' you mentioned the other night. And she must be the character who's picture is on your bed sheets," Erik noticed. Kristina nodded, still intently watching the box. Erik decided to do the same, to see what this 'movie' was about.

He actually found he quite enjoyed it. Since it wasn't real, the effects they could use far outdid the effects of an opera. Such as talking fish, and mermaids, and magic. The songs were quite interesting as well. _Part of Your World _was his favourite so far. Though _Under the Sea _was, admittedly, quite catchy. And he found that if he changed some of the words, it suited his home under the opera quite well.

At the moment the mermaid, Ariel, was sitting in a boat with the prince, who, he had been quite amused to learn, was named Eric. His name suited all, monster or prince. Ariel had lost her voice and the crab, Sebastian, Erik believed his name was, was trying to let Eric know through song that he has to kiss Ariel.

_There you see her, sitting there across the way_

_She don't got a lot to say, but there's something about her_

_And you don't know why but you're dying to try _

_You wanna kiss the girl_

Erik found himself looking at Kristina. He quickly looked away. He didn't want to kiss her. That was ridiculous. Except…he had thought about it earlier…

_Yes you want her. Look at her, you know you do._

_Possible she wants you too, there is one way to ask her_

_It don't take a word, not a single word_

_Go on and kiss the girl_

No no no no no! He didn't know why it sounded like the song was talking to him. He didn't want her and she didn't want him. And he certainly did not want to kiss her!

_Sha la la la la la my oh my, looks like the boy's too shy_

_Ain't gonna kiss the girl_

He looked at her again. No, he wasn't being shy, he was being realistic. Even if he did want to kiss her- _which he didn't!-_ it would probably scar her for life.

_Sha la la la la la ain't that sad? Ain't it a shame, too bad_

_He's gonna miss the girl_

_Shut up song! _Erik growled in his mind. Half of him wanted to get up and leave, but then what would Kristina think? No! What did he care what she thought? He sighed and tried to clear his mind. The song wasn't talking to him. It was talking to Eric. Which was him…No! The other Eric. The prince Eric. Not Erik. He managed to stay through the rest of the song staring at the movie. Ok, so he did spare a few glances towards Kristina, but he had stopped doing that when she happened to look over at him as he was looking at her.

Finally the torturous song was over and he was able to enjoy the story once more. He actually enjoyed the action parts of the movie, the part when Eric saves the day by ramming a ship into the giant octopus woman was especially satisfying.

It ended with Eric and Ariel getting married, and they lived happily ever after, cheesy happy music, etc. _Well at least Eric gets a happy ending,_ he thought to himself when it was over. The credits had barely started when Kristina jumped up in excitement.

"Let's watch another one!"

Erik had a feeling he knew what they would be doing the rest of the day.

**What other movies will our pair watch? Will these other movies have as much subliminal messaging towards Erik as the Little Mermaid? Find out, dear readers, in the next chapter or **_**Phangirl or Lover?**_

**Authoress Note: I loved writing this chapter! It gave me an excuse to listen to Disney songs without feeling like I'm 5. (not that that stops me anyways...)**

**Erik: *still thinking of the song "Kiss the Girl"* Damn you Walt Disney!**

**Me: Just be thankful we didn't watch the Lion King too. *sings* "Caaaaan you feeeeel the looooove toniiiiight?"**

**Erik: NO. Just…no!**

**Me: Or Beauty and the Beast!**

**Erik: That would have just been cruel. **

**Read and Review! **

**Me: **_**Actually you know what? I don't want readers. No one read my story again! **_**ERIK!**

**Erik: What?**


	9. Chapter 9

**I wasn't planning on posting this until tomorrow, but I'm posting it today to celebrate the fact that the world didn't end yesterday! But I was disappointed at the lack of floating people. Did anyone else hear about that guy who predicted the world's end was yesterday (May 21)? Me and my friend ran down the street shouting "The world is ending!" "We're all doooomed!" "The end is near!" etc.**

**Sandal walker: I love that movie! And that's very true, Shrek is very similar to Erik. Not exactly, but pretty similar. I didn't even think of that movie…now I feel bad!**

**Vampiress Idrial: My thoughts exactly! He'd hate it at first, then he might start liking it at the part where Belle falls in love with the beast, but then he'd hate it again when it came to the ending. Thank you!**

**Lady Cavalier: I didn't think of it either, until I was writing the part where they were watching it. Then I typed that the prince was named Eric and I was like wait a minute…**

**Those songs are amazing! Gymnopedie no.1 and Gnossiene no.1 are my favourites that I've heard so far, though I like Gymnopedie no. 3 too. That's such a strange coincidence (or maybe not…? =P) And Erik Satie's age and the years his music was being released could sort of fit with the Erik we all know and love. **

**What? You're not being ignored. …Are you? When did I ignore you?**

**Axelion the Vampire Phantom: Very awkward. For Erik at least. Kristina, being based on me, was too busy being a Disney fangirl to notice the awkwardness.**

**You'll sort of get your movie suggestion in a later chapter, so I'm not going to put those movies here.**

**Personwhoistoolazytologin: Nice anonymous name thing. I dunno, I don't really like the ending of that movie. Plus, Kristina's not **_**that**_** mean. She wants him to stay, not try and kill her.**

**PhantomWaffles: Same here! I've actually been trying to write that song, just for fun! If I can manage to get all the lyrics right, I'll definitely be doing that.**

**MyraValhalla: YES! QUEST FOR CAMELOT IS AN AMAZING MOVIE! (Garrett is one of the coolest animated characters ever!) I Stand Alone suits Erik too, but that song wouldn't really help the romance thing. Maybe I'll use looking through your eyes in a later chapter. **

**CaptainCrunch: Thank you! Yeah I've read a lot of those kind of stories too, which is why I decided to be different (though there are probably other stories like this one on this site…) I wanted to watch them, my little Lion King reference made me want to watch them, but I only have them on VHS and my VCR is stupid. **

**MissFine1997: Same here! It used to be my favourite Disney movie, I even bought this book with all the song lyrics and pictures and a CD. **

**Little Luxa: It is! I had it stuck in my head for the rest of the day. Not that I'm complaining. **

**Yes, just do it Erik! *sings* Sha la la la la la**

**Erik: *Punjabs Rose***

**Me: Ok ok I'll stop!**

**I don't like that movie. Stupid Christine…I mean, Esmerelda. **

**Erik: *sarcastic* Now why does that storyline sound familiar? **

Chapter 9

Kristina woke up sprawled out on the floor in front of the TV, which was still on. _I must have fallen asleep halfway through a movie…I told Erik we shouldn't have put on that last one!_ They had watched more movies yesterday than Kristina usually watched in a month. After The Little Mermaid, they'd watched the first four Harry Potter movies- and she was proud to say that Erik seemed enjoyed the series a lot- then they'd gone onto the first X-Men movie, Saw, and then Sweeney Todd, and they had been watching The Sound of Music when Kristina had drifted off. Erik seemed to like action movies the best, that and musicals of course. Speaking of Erik…

Kristina whipped her head around to see if he was still there. He was, curled up into a ball on the floor. She sighed in relief and lied back down. The feeling of peace was short lived, however. Because she suddenly remembered something very important. School. It was Monday now.

She checked her watch to find that she still had half an hour before she had to leave; it was only quarter after eight which also meant that her mom was dropping off her younger siblings at their school, which gave her enough time to make waffles and take them downstairs for her and Erik. She started to get ready. She decided to leave Erik where he was, since last time she woke him up he tried to kill her. As she went upstairs to make breakfast, she thought of the day before. In all her phantasies of meeting Erik, she'd never imagined that they'd sit around watching movies all day. This Erik was somehow different. He was more…real. The Erik she'd known was just a story, she didn't know little things about him like she'd learned about Erik. Such as he liked action movies. He preferred sleeping on his left side. And she knew there were much more little details she could learn about this Erik's life. She put her waffles in the toaster, softly singing to herself.

~X~X~X~X~

Erik slowly felt himself slipping into consciousness, and a dim light shone through his eyelids. Was he back home? Did that mean that the past two days were just a dream? He opened his eyes to see Kristina's room and sighed with relief. Wait, relief? No, he wanted to be home! But he had to admit he rather enjoyed watching movies. They weren't opera, but they were entertaining all the same.

He looked around for the girl, but found she wasn't in the room at the moment. She'd probably woken before him. Though he couldn't understand why she'd have waken up so early. They had been up until at least five o' clock last night watching movies. He'd been counting on her to be tired enough to sleep later than him. After last night…he had to leave. That song, it spoke to him. It told him to do something to her that he knew he could not. He told himself he didn't want to kiss her, but his dreams spoke otherwise. He had to leave before he got attached to her. Because she'd never be attached to him.

He slowly crept up the stairs, carefully not to make the steps creak. He was a few steps from the top when he heard someone start to sing.

He froze. It was a sweet voice. At first he thought he knew the song, it was the song he'd fallen asleep to the other night. But then he noticed the words were different. The angelic voice continued to sing as he stood on the stairs, captivated.

_Child in the wilderness so  
><em>_Lost in your loneliness you've  
><em>_Learned to be lonely  
><em>_From being always on your own._

_Voice in the wilderness you  
><em>_Echo in emptiness.  
><em>_You think you're the only  
><em>_One but you are not so alone now_

_Your song has reached someone's ears  
><em>_At last someone hears you  
><em>_Who only wants  
><em>_To comfort and be near you._

_I want to dry your tears and  
><em>_Chase away all your fears.  
><em>_Be no longer lonely  
><em>_Take my love as your own  
><em>_Then y__ou'll never be alone._

_I need someone too  
><em>_That someone I need is you._

He felt his heart tighten at the emotion in the voice singing. But he didn't cry as he had when he'd heard the original lyrics. No, these lyrics were happy. These words that this angel sang were words he would give anything to hear. And that voice…it was nice. Soft, but it had hidden potential underneath it. He started to walk up the steps again, to see who's voice was singing, but the voice continued, softer than before:

_Erik, I need you…_

Erik's eyes widen and his mouth dropped open. Erik? Could the voice possibly mean him? He was so shocked he forgot to walk silently, letting his foot press down on the step with a loud _creeeak! _Kristina's head peered out from the doorway. Kristina was the angel. And she was singing…about him?

"Erik!" She greeted him. "H-how long have you been standing there?"

"Not long," he assured her. "But I did hear you singing."

"Did you catch the words?" she asked nervously. He understood her worries, like the Music of the Night she hadn't meant for anyone to hear that song. Especially if it was about him…

"Not much," he lied. It was the right thing to say, Kristina sighed in relief.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, blushing furiously. "I know I'm not nearly as good as people you're used to hearing. I didn't know anyone was listening."

"No, I enjoyed listening to you," he assured her. "Your voice is sweet. Not operatic, but pleasant. Soft. It's actually a welcome change." Her face grew more and more red with each word. She opened her mouth to protest but he silenced her. "The only fault I hear in it is that a voice with your potential remains untrained. If trained, you'd sound even more like an angel." He mentally cursed himself for letting that last word slip. He hadn't meant to tell her he had mistaken her for an angel.

"An angel? Me? You must be joking," she argued, blushing darker.

"Let me train you and you'll see," he offered. He had to hear her sing more, he needed an excuse to hear her voice again. All thoughts of leaving had left his mind when he'd heard her sing. About him.

~X~X~X~X~

Erik was offering to train me in singing. _The Phantom of the Opera _was asking to be my voice instructor. This was any phangirl's dream come true! Erik liked her voice, he'd even gone so far as to call her an angel. She thought only Christine…but he didn't know Christine yet.

"Alright," she smiled at him, her face still flushed. "I'll let you train me…if you eat breakfast!" She giggled when she saw Erik frown.

"As you wish, _petite ange,_" he sighed in defeat. She felt her face burn.

"Little angel?" she repeated, in English.

"Erik thought it suited you," he explained, looking down in embarrassment. "He didn't mean to call you that out loud. If you don't like it, Erik will not call you that again."

"No, it's fine. I just…" she smiled. "Thanks Erik."

"For? I haven't done anything." He raised his eyebrow questioningly. _For complimenting my voice. For watching movies with me last night. For showing me how great you are as a person, not just a character. _

"It's nothing," she said, smiling at him. "Now, waffles!"

**It looks like Erik is going to stay. And he wants to teach Kristina to sing! Could life get any better? Find out next time, dear readers, on **_**Phangirl or Lover?**_

**Authoress Note:**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the song Kristina sang. The lyrics for that were lent to me by LadyCavalier. She came up with this brilliant version of the song.**

**Though the "Erik, I need you" line was added by me. It's sung to the tune of "Christine, I love you"**

**The tune for that song belongs to Andrew Lloyd Webber.**

**I also don't own Harry Potter (unfortunately, everything HP related belongs to JKR) X-Men, Sweeney Todd or The Sound of Music. **


	10. Chapter 10

**ANNOUNCEMENT!: This story will be updated a LOT less frequently. I've been sort of on writer's block with this forever, and I won't be spending as much time on the computer since it's summer now. But I'm not cancelling it, just…pausing it. **

**Also I'm not responding to all the reviews right now. It's been too long of a gap, you've probably all forgotten what you wrote anyways.**

**Erik: In other words she's too lazy to.**

**Me: That too.**

**Erik: Kristina doesn't own a thing. Her parents own everything in her room. She doesn't even own her house. Not even her parents own their house, they rent. She literally owns nothing.**

**Me: Thanks Erik. *rolls eyes* **

Chapter 10

After Erik and Kristina got their waffles, Kristina rushed Erik back downstairs just in case her mother came back.

They ate their waffles and Nutella in silence. Kristina had just gathered the dishes to take them upstairs when the doorbell rang.

"Coming!" she shouted up the stairs. She turned to Erik. "That's probably my friend. I have to go now, I'll be back by four. But…you'll be here when I get back, right?"

"Where are you going?" he asked, sounding slightly alarmed that she was leaving him.

"I have school," she explained apologetically. His confusion cleared up and was replaced with a frown. "I really wish I could just skip, but I'd get in trouble. You'll stay, right?" she asked, begging with her eyes. He sighed.

"_Oui, petite ange_. I am your teacher now, after all. I can't just leave you," he pointed out. She felt her face heat up and turned away from him to hide her blush.

"Great! I'll see you when I get back then. Just make yourself at home, but whatever you do stay in here, and if you hear anyone else come into the house stay silent!" she reminded him, running out the door to meet her friend.

~X~X~X~X~

Erik wasn't too upset by her leaving, it was school, she had to go. Besides, he was used to being on his own. And he had DVDs to amuse him. But when he had chosen a DVD, the fifth movie in that 'Harry Potter' series, to put on he realised he had no idea how to work the DVD player or the TV. He hadn't been paying attention when Kristina had set it up, he had been too fascinated by the moving pictures.

He tried tapping the DVD player. That did nothing. He tried to force it open with his hands, but it resisted too much and he was afraid he'd break it.

"Open!" he shouted at it, pushing all the buttons. Eventually, a black tray with a circular indent slid out of the player, and he guessed that was where the DVD went. He put it in and pressed buttons again until it closed. Then he waited. And waited. And waited. Nothing happened. He pressed more buttons but nothing seemed to work. He hit the TV angrily and a piece popped off, revealing more buttons. Erik pressed them all, and finally he was rewarded with the familiar theme song and title.

Just as he started to sit down and make himself comfortable, he heard the door open. With cat like reflexes he jumped up and quickly turned off the TV, silencing it. He heard a woman's voice speaking upstairs, but he knew it wasn't Kristina. Her mother had returned. Meaning his plans for the day were now ruined, he was certain she'd notice the sound of the TV. He sighed and sat down, looking around for something else to do.

~X~X~X~X~

Kristina had felt nervous leaving Erik alone all day, and she was relieved when the bell indicating the end of school finally rang. She couldn't wait to get back to him, especially after the idea she'd gotten in fourth period. She quickly gathered her stuff and ran to meet up with her friends.

"Hey Kristina!" Jenny, the one who she walked with in the morning, called. "Why are you in such a rush?"

"No reason," she answered, trying to sound casual. "I just want to get home fast so I can finish my homework," she lied lamely.

"Oh great, now you're even more of a nerd," her other friend, Angie, rolled her eyes.

"Well homework can wait, I was thinking we could go hang out at my house and watch today's episode of Buffy the Vampire slayer on my TV. You interested?" Jenny offered, but Kristina shook her head.

"Not today," she said. "I have to do my homework now because I'm busy later. I have to watch my siblings while my parents go out," she lied again, hoping her friends would just drop it.

"Fine, keep your boring plans," Angie huffed. Kristina bit her lip to keep from smiling. Her day would be anything but boring.

"I'm home!" Kristina shouted as she burst through the front doors of her house. She gave a quick wave to her mom then rushed downstairs as fast as she could. When she threw open the door to her room, her first feeling was relief. Erik was still there. Her second was…confusion? Surprise? Annoyance?

Erik was there, yes. But so was a model of what looked like the Opera Garnier, complete with Phantom, manager, actor, and ballet rat figurines, all made of what appeared to be paper maché and clay, or Play-Doh, she couldn't tell. Whatever it was, they were very detailed. She saw Erik move quickly, but she couldn't tell what he was doing, when he heard her enter.

"What…?" Kristina started but she couldn't even think of the words to ask. Instead she just indicated the huge theatre and figurines. Erik shrugged.

"I got bored."

She sighed. She knew she shouldn't have left him home alone.

"Is that moveable?" she asked, pointing to the delicate looking opera house. Erik looked insulted.

"Just because it looks fragile doesn't mean it is. This model is almost as sturdy as the building itself!" he defended his creation.

"Sorry." _I should have known. If Andrew Lloyd Webber was at all right, this is the man who made a model of the stage of the opera house including figurines of all the actors. With removable heads. And a life sized doll of Christine Daaé. _"Well we should move it then. Just so it isn't in the middle of the room." She looked around for a place where she could put a four foot tall opera house. "Put it on my computer desk, there's lots of space there. That's the desk over there with those two boxy things on it," she explained, pointing to her computer.

"More boxes?" Erik mumbled under his breath as he gently- _I thought it wasn't fragile? _Kristina thought, rolling her eyes_- _moved his model and figurines to the desk. When he was finished organising the figurines so that the managers were bowing to the Phantom as the actors and ballet girls performed on the stage, he turned to Kristina. "Now, I believe we should discuss our, or more accurately my, plans for the immediate future. No, I'm not leaving," he assured her quickly, holding up a hand to stop the protest he could see coming. "Not soon anyways. But I can't live down here forever. And I can't stay away from my Opera forever."

She saw a look in his eyes that resembled homesickness.

"But I don't know how to go back in time. However, since I got here by not doing anything, I believe that if I simply don't try to travel through time, eventually I will be returned to Paris, in the nineteenth century where I belong." Kristina nodded in agreement. Apparently building the opera house wasn't the only thing he'd done while she was gone. He must have been thinking about how to get home the whole time as well. She was glad he'd decided to stay, at least now she wouldn't worry about him running away whenever she had her back turned to him.

"Now that that's over with, I believe someone here has singing lessons to attend, while another here has lessons to teach." he reminded her.

"Of course!" Kristina agreed, her heart almost bursting with excitement. "But wait, first I have a proposition about something completely unrelated. Since you obviously get bored when you're here alone," she indicated the mini-Opera Garnier, "And since it must get uncomfortable sleeping on my floor every night, I've found a way to solve all our problems! At least until you find a way to return home," she added. "You could sign up for my school! You can't live the live of a twenty first century Canadian without going to school. That would also explain who you are, you could be an exchange student from France, and you could be staying at my house. Then we wouldn't have to sneak around all the time and you would actually be allowed to be here." She looked at him, her eyes shining with excitement. "Isn't it great?"

~X~X~X~X~

"School?" he repeated, slightly shocked. She wanted him to spend even more time with her? Her and hundreds if not thousands of other people… "_Petite ange_, a man like me cannot attend a thing so public as a school. They don't open their doors to freaks," he said bitterly.

"No, they'd let you in! It's a public high school, they let everyone in!" She explained, still blissfully unaware of how impossible her suggestion was.

"No, they wouldn't. They say they do, but the rules all change when it comes to people like me. And even if they do let me in, what would I do about this?" he asked angrily, pointing to his face. "It isn't normal to wear a mask everywhere. It isn't normal to want to hide your face so badly that you kill everyone who's seen it. You don't know how lucky you are that you only saw a glimpse, _petite ange_," he added dangerously. She just went on.

"So all we have to do is tell everyone you got burned in a fire, or that you're sensitive to light. No wait, not that last one. Everyone will be swarming around you thinking you're a real life Edward Cullen or something…" she pointed out to herself. Erik frowned. Who was Edward Cullen? He ignored it and carried on.

"Even if we come up with a good excuse for my mask, eventually the students would get curious. They would try to take off the mask, and when they did…" he trailed off, leaving the unspoken threat hanging in the air. "Besides, I would still be an outcast. I would never be accepted in a group, with or without my face," he concluded, his tone final. "Now, on with your lesson."

"Erik, this generation is a lot more accepting than people of your time," she told him softly. "Just look at me, for example. I saw your face, even if it was only a bit. Yet here we stand under _my _roof. And I'm not running away screaming or whatever it is you expect people to do."

"That has happened," he admitted. Then he was silent, thinking. Could he pass up an opportunity like this, to go to school and to learn so much? Could this generation be different? Could he trust Kristina's assurance that everything would be fine? "Yes," he said quietly. He did trust her, mostly. And he had to go, he loved to learn new things. Hence all his talents, both useful and useless . "Yes," he repeated, louder this time. "After consideration I've decided I will attend…school with you," he decided, testing out the new word. Kristina squealed with excitement.

"That's awesome! So you start tomorrow then?" She asked hopefully. Erik nodded."As long as we start your singing lessons today," he told her.

"Ok, but later. If you're going to start school tomorrow we have to figure out the details of how, and I have to tell you more about stuff so you don't sound like you've been living in a hole your whole life…which technically you have, not that your catacomb place is a hole but it is underground-" she ranted, but Erik cut her off.

"Sing first, talk later," he said as he gave her a stern glare.

"But-" she started, but Erik didn't give her time to say much.

"I will leave," he threatened, though he knew he wouldn't. Kristina sighed.

"Fine."

**How will their first lesson go? And more importantly, how will Erik handle the average Canadian high school? Find out in the next chapter (or so) of **_**Phangirl or Lover?**_

**Authoress Note: The song in the last chapter was all messed up. That's because FFN is stupid sometimes. In the original document I uploaded it wasn't like that…Anyways, I'm pretty sure I've fixed it. Just wanted to clear that up.**

**Erik: Don't expect to hear from her again until at least December.**

**Me: Erik! Don't listen to him, he's over-exaggerating.**

**Erik: How long has it been since you last updated? A month? **

**Me: Maaaybe. But I'll try to update within a week or so, as soon as I can I guess. Reviewers get a chance to win a lifetime supply of virtual waffles!**

**Erik: Perhaps instead of bribing the readers to review, the readers should be bribing you to update?**

**Me: I'm sorry, I swear I'll try to update more often now! **_**Not! **_**Erik, cut that out!**

**Erik: Wasn't me.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Ok, I actually have a good excuse for being so long this time! I moved. So I've been crazy busy packing and unpacking, loading and unloading, and now I'm in a new house!**

**Erik: With no dimming light. AND her room has a window. And Erik doesn't fit in the closet anymore!**

**Me: I know. I don't like it either, but I've done some extra things to make it up for you guys, the long wait I mean. I wrote an extra little side-fic type thing, and it's….*drum roll*…Under the Opera! Yep, I wrote the whole song! **

**Erik: I believe it was PhantomWaffles who suggested the idea? Thanks to you, she used the time she was supposed to spend packing and unpacking writing this ridiculous song of hers.**

**Me: You know you love it Erik.**

**Erik:….It's catchy.**

**Me: Anyways, go check that out! **

**Review responding time!**

**Little Luxa: That is a lot isn't it. *daydreaming about a swimming pool of maple syrup and pool toys made of waffles***

**Erik: Stop drooling.**

**Me: But…waffles! And yes, everyone here should move down to Canada to come see Erik in my school! Then Erik will have a huge parade of phangirls following after him all the time! It'd be awesome.**

**I'm in the same situation, lots of syrup but I finished my waffles yesterday morning…*cries in the corner of depression***

**PhantomWaffles: First of all thanks for suggesting a few chapters ago that I should write Under the Opera! And yeah I guess people would probably recognize Erik…*runs off to think of excuses Kristina can use***

**LadyCavalier: Erik: She knows all too well what you're talking about.**

**Me: Taaaaacooooooos! Wait you had a funeral and I missed it? Why wasn't I invited? Your ideas definitely helped with inspiration for ideas, thanks! May I ask what this Chandler person did? And I will update more often now that I'm done with moving, I swear. **_**No, I won't I'm too lazy. **_**Erik, you really have to stop doing that! Gerik's pretty cool, but Charles Dance Erik is my favourite!**

**Also, I had a question. Since the altered lyrics for Learn to Be Lonely are yours, I feel like I should ask you for permission first: Would you mind if I did a vocal cover of Learn to Be Lonely with your lyrics and put it on YouTube?**

**fanfan: Knowing Erik, it could've been anything. I already kinda had an idea for the whole Erik going back thing, but if mine doesn't work out I like your idea too! **

**Erik: Yes, I'm definitely going to need some luck…however, in the past I've noticed luck never tends to look favourably upon me, and I have a feeling this will be no different.**

**Me: Oh I can guarantee there will be grief for anyone who messes with Erik. *pulls out Punjab* LOTS of grief. **

**Crazyone256: I'm sorry, but as I said, writer's block and moving and. But I'm pretty much over that now and I'm done moving, which means it'll be unpaused (I hope). I can't guarantee fast updates, since I still have to finish unpacking, but I'll try my best!**

**Alexanne: Surprise, here's an update! Actually, everyone should be thanking you. The email I got alerting me of your review kinda reminded me I have to write more for everyone here. So thank you!**

**Wappa101: Thank you, and I'm going to update…NOW!**

**DISCLAIMER: I own Erik! He's mine! You can't have him Leroux! *sticks tongue out at Gaston Leroux***

**Erik: He's dead. **

**Me: Good, now there's no competition over you!**

**Erik: I think you're forgetting some people who are definitely competition. *points to readers***

**Me: Right…fop.**

**Erik: What?**

**Me: It's my swear word! Instead of fuc-**

**Erik: *covers her mouth* Don't use such vulgar language, there may be children reading this!**

**Me: I was gonna say fuchsia.**

**Erik: Sure.**

**Me: Fopping phantom…**

**Erik: Just start the story already.**

Chapter 11

"So, do you own an instrument?" Erik asked, struggling to contain his excitement that he would get to hear her angelic voice again.

"Yep! A couple," she smiled. "I've got a guitar, a flute, and a keyboard. Er, it's a piano, organ type thing but less… good sounding," she tried to explain. Erik was still confused, but he let it go. He was used to her poor explanations by now.

"I would like to see this keyboard, if you don't mind." Though Erik could play all the instruments she'd mentioned, he'd always preferred the sound of the piano.

"Alright, but we've only got about an hour before the rest of the family gets back from shopping," Kristina said, leading him up the stairs. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask this. The first night you stayed here, was it you who moved me from the floor to the bed?"

Erik felt his face flush. He'd almost forgotten about that.

"Erik is sorry, he shouldn't have touched you at all. But he didn't do anything else, he promises," he reassured her quickly.

"What?" she looked confused for a few seconds before understanding washed over her and her eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, you thought that I thought you…" She cut herself off, face turning red. "No, I would never suspect something like that! I was just curious that's all. Don't worry about it." She smiled at him.

"But…you're not bothered by the fact that Erik touched you?" he asked, confused. He had expected her to be outraged and disgusted at the thought of physical contact with him, a living corpse. _He_ was outraged and disgusted at himself for daring to let his cold dead hands touch something so beautiful and…alive.

"Of course not. Though I am kind of annoyed that you didn't just stay in the bed like I asked. Now I feel like a bad hostess, to let my guest sleep on the floor." She frowned at him.

"Not at all, there's nothing more you could have done short of tying me to the bed. Besides, I was awake most of the night anyways. I don't sleep much," he explained. "Now, onto your lessons." He insisted, sitting down in front of the keyboard.

He let his fingers run across a few notes to get a taste of the sounds of this strange instrument that was a piano, but not. He could definitely hear the difference in the sounds it created, and the keys felt different too. He couldn't feel the hammers and the strings inside.

"It's electric," Kristina explained, guessing the source of his confusion.

Erik nodded, though he still didn't fully understand it. Yet another thing he was itching to take apart and see how it worked, but for now he would simply enjoy the sounds it made.

~X~X~X~X~

Even when he played random notes, with no rhythm or anything, it sounded musical. She'd never heard anyone play any instrument so beautifully…it was almost hypnotising. Almost, it _was_ hypnotising. She never wanted the music to end.

"Kristina?" Erik's voice shook her out of her trance.

"I'm sorry did you say something?" she asked, embarrassed.

"No, you just looked like you were somewhere else," he explained.

"I was, I was lost in the music," she admitted, smiling at him. "You're a wonderful musician." She hesitated, but finally managed to get out her next question. "Are you….are you going to sing as well?" she wondered, eager to hear the voice all the books spoke of.

"No." He snapped, his voice suddenly cold and brisk. He offered no further explanation, only turned back to the keyboard and continued with the lesson.

The lessons went well, apart from his irritation at her asking him to sing. Even after just one lesson Kristina could hear the improvements in her singing.

Unfortunately, it was brought to an end by the sound of a car pulling in the driveway. Kristina rushed to the window to see who it was, and saw a familiar grey minivan.

"Erik, it's my parents. Hurry and go back down-" She cut herself off when she turned to see that Erik was already gone. _That was fast, _she thought, though she expected no less from the Phantom of the Opera.

She quickly wiped the huge grin off her face and rushed to the door to greet her family.

~X~X~X~X~

Erik sat in Kristina's room, reflecting on his angel's first lesson. Her voice was becoming even more heavenly with his guidance, and he knew she would only continue to improve. She was the best student a musician could ask for, eager to learn and eager to please. But also eager for him to share with her what she'd involuntarily shared with him, the music of voice.

He couldn't let her hear him sing. He knew he had a pleasant voice, making even those who hated him stop to bask in its beauty, hypnotising them. The look on her face when he played the piano showed the same entranced admiration that everyone else had.

He didn't want her to like him only for his voice. She seemed to like- or at least willingly tolerate- him without his musical talents, and he wanted to keep it that way. To keep believing she liked _him_.

"Erik?" Her voice, accompanied by a knock at the door, pulled him to reality once more.

"Again, this is your room. You needn't knock before entering," he pointed out.

"Just because it's my room doesn't mean you can't have privacy in it," she countered, grinning. "Anyways, we should figure out how we're going to get you into my school," she told him. He saw excitement shine in her golden brown eyes.

School. He'd almost forgotten. All the people…but all the learning! All the knowledge he would obtain if he were to attend! It almost weighed out the downside of having to communicate and be in crowds.

Plus, he'd get to spend all day with Kristina.

"First, we need to think of a last name for you," Kristina's suggestion dismissed his thoughts once more, and Erik nodded in agreement.

"Yes, seeing as I don't know my own…" he trailed off, determined not to allow himself to feel sad for the loss of his past. Instead he focused on thinking of a last name. Perhaps the name of a musician? Erik Bach? Erik Mozart? No, he was certain someone would point out the unlikely coincidence. Besides, those names were quite rare. Erik…Phantom? He chuckled to himself. The name would certainly fit.

"Erik Satie." Kristina announced suddenly, her eyes once more lit up. "Your name should be Erik Satie!"

"Why do you say that?" Erik asked. He'd never heard of anyone by that name.

"Erik Satie is a musician. I think he's a bit after the time you left though, which explains why you haven't heard of him," she explained.

"I would like to hear some of his music before I agree to borrow his name," Erik told her. He didn't want to go around with the name of some talent less musician. Kristina may like his music, but he hadn't forgotten about the 'rap' her generation seemed to classify as music.

Kristina nodded and pressed a few buttons on the iPod and soon an amazing piece drifted through the earphones into his ears. It was hauntingly beautiful, and wonderfully sad.

"This is Gymnopedie 1," she told him. I've got pretty much all his songs on here, so if you'd like to listen to them later go ahead. Then you can decide whether or not you'll use his name."

"No, I've decided. I would be honoured to borrow this man's name," he announced decisively. "So, for the time being, I will be Erik Satie." The name sounded foreign to him, but he was certain he'd get used to it.

"Great!" Kristina beamed at him. "Now all we have to do is decide how to get you signed up without anyone asking too many questions."

"Leave that to me, _petite ange_," Erik grinned. Things like this were his specialty after all.

**Will Erik be able to join Kristina's school without trouble? Will he fit in with everyone? Find out in the next chapter of Phangirl or Lover!**

**Authoress Note: I swear I'll try to update this time. Like I said, moving got in the way last time. But now, nothing can stop me from writing and updating, muahahahaha!**

**Erik: Except reading. Phantom by Susan Kay has finally arrived in her mail and she's been spending most of her time reading it. **

**Me: Yeah that could be a problem…first of all, it's a distraction because it's addicting. Second, it puts me into this "nothing bad must happen to Erik!" mood, but if life goes perfectly for him the fanfic would be boring…**

**Erik: So you do find pleasure in my suffering!**

**Me: No, we find pleasure in you overcoming obstacles. No one wants to read about Erik's perfect life of coming to Canada and how everyone loves him so much they make him the prime minister and he marries Kristina and her parents are totally supportive and love them both and thanks to Prime Minister Erik's lead world peace is achieved for everyone except all the world's fops who are all gathered together and burned in a bonfire.**

**Erik:…**

**Me: Review and you get waffles with some of Canada's trademark maple syrup, eh?**

**(Also, please check out my new phanfic, Reincarnations!)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Sandal Walker: That's true, you DO know what you're talking about. I'm one of those people, personally. Quarterback type guys are boring anyways. And teenage girls do tend to be attracted to the mysterious strong silent type!**

**LadyCavalier: That would be an interesting fic, wouldn't it, Erik as prime minister? I didn't move far, just down the street from my old house. And I made sure that when we moved all the food to the new house, the waffles were right in the front of the freezer so I could get them easily! No Nutella though, we ran out. Yeah, Charles Dance Erik is my favourite! I hate that part too, I was (and still am) so fopping annoyed at Christine for that. She's unworthy of Erik! *hugs Charles Dance Erik* I regret watching it to the end though, the end made me cry!**

**I will definitely make sure to put this guy in for you.**

**Erik: And I will strangle him to death**

**Me: I was thinking something a bit less harsh than **_**killing **_**him…**

**I needed a last name, and since Erik Satie is awesome I figured it's perfect! **

**Well that explains why I wasn't there, sitting in a casket sounds too boring! And again, I'm VERY sorry for being away for so long! Aw, thanks!**

**I definitely can't pay you twenty thousand francs, I don't even know what francs are :P**

**1. Definitely, I would've done that anyways! As for the accent, I personally don't hear a difference between the way I say words and the way Americans say words, but maybe that's just me.**

**2. I thought I did that? But I just checked and it's still messed…oh well, I'll just keep fixing it until it stays fixed!**

**3. I can only promise that I will try to come up with an idea for a Charles Dance Erik phanfic. I can't guarantee I'll think of one, but I'll try really hard!**

**Erik: You're just going to accept all her demands? No compromising? *shakes head* From now on, you girls should leave the demanding and deal making to us Eriks.**

**Wow, your review response is crazy long!**

**fanfan: I'm used to moving by now, I've moved like 10 times in my life, and that's not even over exaggerating. It may be **_**under **_**exaggerating actually.**

**Fucshia is a wonderful word!**

**Yep, I will be trying to at least. And you'll have to wait and see~**

**I'm sure he'll love that. Instant neat writing with the click of a button! You only have a week left of summer? I still have a whole month! Erik may be looking forward to school, but I'm certainly not. School's boring!**

**Cowgirl 44: Thank you very much, and I'll try!**

**Axelion the Vampire Phantom: I'm never gonna be able to look at the word Erie the same.**

**Erik: As if she doesn't have enough things she connects to my name. When she goes to this restaurant where the rooms are labelled with letters, she always wants to sit in Room E because E is for Erik *rolls eyes***

**Me: Because Eriks, no matter how annoying they can get, are awesome!**

**Adriatic Rose: Wow, that does NOT sound like fun. I've only got two siblings and a cat, and we got rid of the kids for a few days by ditching them at our neighbours. **

**Disclaimer: I bought a house, not the Phantom of the Opera. Though I think all the money we spent on a house could have bought us Phantom of the Opera…and I'd rather be sleeping on the streets in a box with a Phantom than living in a house without one.**

Chapter 12

As soon as Kristina came back to consciousness the next morning her eyes immediately snapped open and scanned the room for Erik, which had become regular morning custom for her. But unlike the past two mornings, she didn't see him.

"Erik?" she called out, not worrying who heard. He'd left? How could he leave? He'd promised he wouldn't! He couldn't be gone…

"Yes?" It was Erik. Or his voice at least. Kristina got up and looked around desperately for the source.

"Are you really still here or am I going insane and hearing voices that don't exist?" she wondered aloud, still slightly panicked from his absence. Only when she turned to see him standing a few feet behind her did she manage to calm herself. "Where were you?" she asked curiously. She was certain he wasn't in the room earlier.

"I was…entertaining myself," he answered guardedly.

"Oh?" _Great, what did he do this time? _"How exactly?"

"Well…" he started, probably debating whether or not to tell Kristina. "Did you know your walls are hollow and have enough space inside them to walk through?" For a few moments Kristina just stared at him in silence, not sure what to say in response to his absurd question and the implication that came with it. He'd been _inside _the walls?

"You really do get bored easily don't you?" she said at last. "What would you be doing in the walls anyways?"

"I'm not used to sitting still for long," he admitted. "As for what I was doing, I was building secret tunnels around your house." Once more his words left Kristina silent. "I don't feel right without knowing there are trapdoors around me," he explained.

"Need to be sure you can escape if I ever decide to attack you?" Kristina asked with a grin. Erik laughed.

"Indeed. You're quite a terrifying person, I'm not sure someone like me could take you on in a fight," he said teasingly. Kristina rolled her eyes.

"Well as long as no one finds them accidentally I see no harm in it," she shrugged. "And I'm sure we'll find uses for it." Her eyes lit up. "Can your tunnels reach the kitchen?" she asked hopefully.

"I'll be back in a few minutes with waffles," he said, guessing what she wanted. He opened the door to her closet and shoved the clothes aside, revealing a square of the wall that looked as if it was removable. The entrance to Erik's tunnels.

"While you're up there, you should try and steal some clothes from my step dad's room. Your nineteenth century outfit isn't going to fit in at a twenty first century school," Kristina pointed out. Erik gave a swift nod and disappeared into the walls.

~X~X~X~X~

A few minutes later, Erik stood in front of Kristina wearing an outfit that, in his opinion, was the most disgracefully plain and horrid outfit he'd ever worn.

The girl had made him wear these strange blue pants that were faded and even torn in some places, and were far too large for his skinny body. To remedy the difference in size, she'd given him a black leather belt which was also faded and unravelling around the edges. And for a shirt he wore an awfully plain white shirt which was also too large for him. He looked down at himself in contempt.

"You expect me to go out and be viewed by others wearing _this?_" he asked her incredulously.

"I'm sorry Erik, that's what's normal for this time period," she explained apologetically. "If you wore your outfit you'd stand out too much.

"These clothes are dirty, broken, and they don't even fit!" he protested, his voice laced with disgust.

"They're all we're going to be able to find in my house unless you want to wear my clothes," she retorted with an eye roll.

Erik felt his face heat up at the thought of wearing such little clothing, especially in front of people.

"It's only for today," she promised. "After school we'll go shopping to buy you some clothes of your own."

"Fine, I'll wear this stupid outfit," he grumbled, still looking at it with distaste. He looked up to see Kristina holding in laughter. "What?"

"Oh nothing, it's just…" she smiled. "You sound so childish when you talk like that. People will have no trouble believing you're a teenager."

"Which is a good thing I suppose," Erik sighed. "Shall we go then?"

"Yeah, if we don't leave soon we'll be late," she agreed, looking at her watch. "My mom's still here so you'll have to sneak out without her seeing you, ok?"

"Child's play," Erik said lazily. Kristina laughed.

"Meet you outside, Erik!" she waved and left the room.

Erik quickly ran into the walls and through the tunnels until he found the one that led outside. He may not have as much practice running through these new tunnels, but he still managed to be outside waiting by the time Kristina had reached the end of her driveway.

"And you thought my tunnels were pointless and illogical," he scoffed. "Though I could have done that without them too."

Kristina laughed and together they walked the rest of the way in silence. Erik was nervous. He was anxious to learn, but he wasn't looking forward to the people. The staring, the ridicule, the fear… But knowledge was worth it. Knowledge of the future! How many people could say they had that? This unique knowledge would be worth whatever trials fate had in store for him…he hoped.

**Will Erik's hopes be realized? Will school be as bad as he expects? Or worse? Find out in the next chapter of Phangirl or Lover!**

**Authoress Note: See? I didn't disappear this time! Sorry the chapter's so short, it just felt like it should end there. **

**Also, I have a song to share with you guys! All you phantom phans who haven't heard of it, go to YouTube and search "Ne'er Forsake Me, Here Remain", the first video that comes up, by a user named coepto, is a wonderful song.**

**Erik: Not as enchantingly dark as my music of the night, but it is a fairly decent song. **

**Me: *sings* Ne'er forsake me, here remain. Share with me my dark domain! **

**Erik: You know they can't hear the notes you're singing if you're only writing out the words?**

**Me: They'll know once they hear it. And the into at the beginning of the video is chillingly sweet. So watch it if you haven't seen it already, and the user also has all the other songs from Ken Hill's musical **_**Phantom **_**as well. **

**REVIEW! **_**The Phantom of the Opera commands you!**_


	13. Chapter 14 Yes I know I skipped 13

**Review responses!**

**Crazyone256: …Chocolate you say?…CAKE! **

**LadyCavalier: The "do not be fooled by his cuteness" reminds me of the new smurfs movie! I can guarantee this guy will appear in my fic and I can guarantee he won't have a very happy time in it. Not happy at all, muahaha!**

**Erik: Leave the evil laughing to me. *instert Michael Crawfords evil laughter from the end of Act 1* AHAHAHAHAHAHA!**

**Me: Very nice Erik. Hope that it would end nicely made me keep watching. Stupid false hope…ok I went to that person's profile, she's the authore of Letters to Erik? I've been dying to read that book since I'd heard of it! I'll definitely read that fic when I have time. **

**I told you I'd try to get a new chapter up soon! I don't lie usually.**

**Erik: I did not mean to be "presumptuous" as you say, I was simply pointing out the fact that you are amateurs whereas I am a professional. **

**Me: I still agree Charles Dance Erik wouldn't have said something like that. **

**Erik: ….Who is this "Charles Dance Erik"?**

**Me: Someone's getting jealous!**

**fanfan: That's awful, I don't have to go back till September. My internal alarm clock has been ruined by phanfiction! I hope whatever class I have first period lets me sleep. The weather where I am is HOT! The other day it felt like it was 46 Celsius! (about 114 Fahrenheit) And rainy, it's rained for the most of the past week. **

**Kristina would do as any phan would and defend Erik completely, you can be sure of that. I got the whole waffles thing from Little Luxa, and waffles are awesome so of course we all want them!**

**Wow, with all that bribery how can I say no? :P**

**Adriatic Rose: That's for sure, poor Erik is going to be disappointing if he expects something good from it!**

**That sounds like a lot of work, I've never moved out o the province I live in. I've visited other places but the farthest I've moved is about an hour away.**

**Erik: Thank you for that, however as I've said luck doesn't like me…**

**Broadway and Books: Thanks, and I do that all the time. I'll think I'm following something and then I'll be browsing and I'll find it's had like 10 updates since I last saw it :P Haha the land of failure, I like that! (Also I love your username. Two of the best things in the world!)**

**Axelion the Vampire Phantom: My school is actually very arts oriented, so music kids aren't treated badly at all. The only people that hate the arts kids are the other classes that are jealous that most of the school's money goes to the arts. Our school's actually building us a whole theatre soon! **

**Phantom Shadowwalker: Yay, another Canadian phan! Thank you, and I'm glad to hear the type of humour is good! Yeah, Erik's feelings towards rap music would definitely be horrified! Yeah I think he'd be ashamed at most of our music, it's really got no feeling to it. And the words can be so vulgar at times! Thank you, that's one of my main worries, trying to keep Erik in character. **

**I'm not saying we're completely and totally understanding, but people generally know not to stare at people dressed differently (though we do anyways, just usually more secretly. I saw a guy with a multi coloured mohawk. I definitely stared at him, but I waited until he turned away to do it!) And though we're not exactly accepting of all races no one's using other races as slaves either. **

**I agree completely, Charles Dance Phantom is one of the best! Have you heard the songs from the musical by Kopit and Yeston? It's the musical that the tv mini-series was originally supposed to be. I actually just finished it two days ago. **

**I've been trying to find the songs too. I've never owned a recording, and I would buy one but I can't buy things online without a credit card and my mom won't let me use hers. That's another of my favourites! And the song where the Persian tells Erik's history, **_**Born with a Monstrous Countenance**_**, and Late Last Night has this awesomely creepy feeling to it that I love. I wish I could've seen the show**

Chapter 14 (I'm skipping chapter 13. It's bad luck)

After a quiet anxiety filled ten minute walk, Kristina and Erik arrived at the large high school building.

"This is it?" Erik asked, looking at the building with the same contempt he'd eyed his outfit. "Do you not have architects in your time?"

"It's made for functionality not looks," Kristina explained, once again embarrassed at her generation. She'd never noticed half these flaws in her time before Erik had showed up.

"So in this time period people are just too lazy to take the time to make a building with looks _and_ functionality," Erik concluded.

"Basically," Kristina agreed sheepishly. She pictured what her school would've looked like if Erik had designed it…She couldn't imagine how awesome it would be for her school to have an entrance with stairs like the Palais Garnier! She shook the image out of her mind and returned to the present.

"After you," Erik said, politely holding the door open.

She smiled and walked through. _It's really a pity that gentlemen like that are extinct nowadays…_she thought sadly. She led Erik silently through the twisting halls to a room separated from the hall by a wall of windows.

"This is the office," Kristina announced nervously. "This is where we find out if your plan works or not."

"Just leave it to me," Erik said, sounding extremely self assured. "And stop being so nervous, authority figures can smell fear," he warned her as he once more opened the door for her.

"Thanks Erik, that's really reassuring," she muttered under her breath as she passed. She heard him chuckle softly as he walked past her up to the desk. He smiled when the receptionist looked up.

"Hello, my name is Erik Satie," he said it as naturally as if he had been saying it his whole life. "I'm visiting here from France and I was hoping I'd be able to transfer here until I return."

The receptionist looked up at him in shock, and Kristina knew it must have been surprise from the mask and the beauty of his melodic voice. "Do you have your papers from your previous school and your birth certificate?" she asked once she'd regained her focus. Kristina's nervousness level rose, but Erik stayed calm.

"Not yet, but they're being mailed over as we speak," he lied smoothly.

"What about a registration form?" she asked, eying Erik carefully.

"That I do have, in face I just mailed it in yesterday." As before, nothing gave away the lie.

"I'll go check the mail room then," she said, standing up. Kristina bit her lip nervously.

"Are you talking to Erik Satie? No need, I just looked at it and it's all good," the principal's voice shouted from the other room. The receptionist seemed to accept this and sat back down as Kristina held in a sigh of relief. She silently thanked her school for that digital yearbook she'd gotten last year with her principal's voice on it.

"Would you fill in this form with your personal information?" she asked, handing him a sheet of paper and pencil before turning back to her computer.

"Thank you," Erik nodded politely and sat down in a chair next to Kristina staring at the paper intently.

Kristina watched as he filled in what he could and made up what he didn't know. She saw his pen hesitate over "Date of birth." _He really doesn't know his birthday…_she realized sadly. He seemed to scrawl out a random number along with the birth year 1995, Kristina's birth year. They had already agreed he would pretend to be her age so they could be in the same classes, Erik needed a guide who knew that he was unfamiliar with the present.

After a while, he stood up and handed the papers back to the woman at the desk. She took them and quickly reviewed it, nodding after each answer and typing it into the files. Until something made her frown.

"Why is your house information the same as…Kristina Green?" she asked suspiciously.

"Because that's who I will be staying with for the duration of my stay," he explained. "That's why she's here," he added, sweeping his arm back to indicate me. "We've been pen pals for almost a year now, and she was more than happy to take me in," he lied again with a smile in my direction.

"Does she have her parents' signed permission?" the receptionist asked me.

"Nope, but I'll bring it in tomorrow! They already said yes, they said they'd call you sometime today too." I wasn't as calm as Erik, but I did have enough drama and acting classes of experience for the lie to sound perfectly believable.

"I think I should call them, before Erik starts school he-" she was interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing. "One moment," she excused herself. "Meadowvale High School, how may I help you?"

I heard a soft female voice coming out of the speaker, but I couldn't catch what it was saying.

"Oh yes, I was just speaking to them now." Another pause. "Alright, just make sure you send it with her tomorrow. Thank you Mrs Green." She hung up the phone and turned to us. "That was your mother Kristina, it seems you're all set to go Erik!" She said, a false cheeriness in her voice that didn't reach her eyes. Her eyes were still looking at Erik as if there was something not quite right.

"Also, Erik, our school policy requires that your face be visible at all times, so that mask has to go." She added.

"My apologies, I'm afraid I can't agree to that request," Erik said curtly.

"Well it wasn't a request, it was an order," she said in a professional voice. "If you wish to attend Meadowvale, the mask has to go."

Kristina saw Erik struggling not to lose his temper or speak in third person. She stepped in front of him and smiled down at the receptionist.

"Sorry, but he's serious when he says he can't." She lowered her voice. "He was badly burned in an accident, and his skin is very sensitive to light now. And he's got really bad self confidence about it," she added truthfully.

The reception frowned thoughtfully.

"Please, madame. I promise it won't be a cause for trouble," Erik said once he'd regained his patience, hypnotising the woman with his voice. "Besides, this mask is more of a recognizable facial feature than any face would be," he added logically.

"I suppose.." she admitted reluctantly. After a few moments she sighed. "Alright, I'll allow it because of your special circumstances." She turned to me. "I'll inform your teachers that you will be taking the day off to help Erik get settled and show him around the school. Perhaps you could let him visit some of your classes," she suggested. Kristina just nodded.

"Thank you very much," he said with a smile. He opened the door for Kristina and followed her out into the halls.

"That ventriloquist stuff is awesome Erik. You can sound like a phone?" Kristina asked in wonder. Erik laughed.

"My voice can be anything it wants to be," he explained with a twinkle in his eyes. "Now we just have to call the principal and tell him that the receptionist saw my parents' registration form."

They quickly stopped at a pay phone and Kristina watched as Erik spoke to the principal. After he hung up he grinned at Kristina. "Exactly as planned, not that I had any doubts it would be."

"That's great!" Kristina smiled. "Congratulations Erik, you're officially a high school student!"

**Finally, Erik has everything all settled. Now the fun can begin! Or will it be worse than torture? Find out in the next chapter of Phangirl or Lover?**

**Authoress Note: I sincerely hope it's harder than that to sign up as a student. If not, I'm gonna start suspecting every new student of being a terrorist or something. **

**Anyways, sorry for the wait, I got stuck and couldn't figure out how to start this chapter. I'm back to normal now though, so expect a new chapter in the next few days!**

**Review and I won't send terrorists to your school!**

**Erik: And she yelled at me for threatening to Punjab people…**


	14. Authoress Announcement

ANNOUNCEMENT! With the permission of LadyCavalier, I've uploaded a video onto YouTube of me singing her version of Learn to Be Lonely. If anyone's interested, it's called "Learn to Be Lonely- Alternate Lyrics" , or you could go to you tube and take the url thing and after v= paste "9xZyXIns7E8"

Just a warning though, I'm not nearly as good a singer as the character Kristina is supposed to be. I just wanted to record myself singing it so I could hear it, and then I figured I should post it on YouTube maybe for other people too even though it's not very good and I-

Erik: *covers my mouth* She's rambling. She does that. If you do watch the video, you get to hear her rambling after it as well.

Me: *blushes* Just watch it or don't, whatever you want. Though I would kind of like it if you did, but I also kind of don't want anyone to because as I said it's not very good and-

Erik: *gives me a look*

Me: Sorry.


	15. Chapter 15

**I'm SO sorry for taking so long! But look, I updated! I've been crazy busy with school, honestly. I had all my worst subjects this semester. Next semester I have mostly art related stuff (art, music, etc.) so I should have a lot more free time. Music class doesn't make you write essays. **

**But enough excuses, I'm reeeeally sorry! To make up for my absence I'm updating this and my Reincarnations phanfic, and you can expect another update by sometime next week. Also every phangirl reading this gets to hug Erik. **

**Erik: I don't remember agreeing to this!**

Chapter 15

"So…I guess you should just follow me around for the day?" Kristina suggested awkwardly.

"That appears to be our plan," Erik agreed. He dipped his head to her. "Well then, our schedule for the day is in your hands. Lead the way, _petit ange_."

Kristina grinned at the gesture and led the way to her first class, science. Erik followed silently, leaving Kristina to wonder what he was thinking. One thing she knew for sure was he wasn't enjoying the amount of people drifting through the halls. Whenever anyone came near them Erik would flinch and watch them out of the corner of his eye until they were out of sight.

"Erik?" She put a hand on his shoulder and he jumped. "Don't be so freaked out. No one here is going to do anything to you." She smiled. "And if they do I'll beat them up for you."

"Indeed, you're intimidating enough to frighten off any potential attackers," Erik said. Kristina was pleased to see her remark made him smile.

At last they stopped in front of a door. Kristina turned to Erik and held her palm towards him, giving him a look. When she saw that he wasn't getting her message she explained.

"Hand over the Punjab lasso," she said, trying to keep a commanding and stern tone in her voice.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Erik denied quickly. "I left it back at your house."

"Erik," she said warningly. "You're not going to have to kill anyone at school."

"It can't hurt to keep one with me just in case," Erik insisted stubbornly. "It's bad enough that I have to surround myself with people, but to leave me without any form of defence? That would be cruel of you."

"Fine," Kristina sighed. "Just keep in mind that if you do lose your temper or use it on instinct, you're not the only one they'll cause trouble for. Guilty by association and all that."

Erik nodded. "I know that." He didn't say any more but Kristina could see his mind working, thinking.

"Let's go in now, ok?" she suggested, pulling him back to reality. Erik nodded and followed Kristina into the classroom.

"And who is this?" Mr Nichols, Kristina's science teacher asked, watching Erik follow her in. Both him and her classmates were staring curiously at Erik, no doubt wondering about the mask. Erik shifted uncomfortably under their gaze.

"This is Erik. He's a transfer student form France," she explained when she saw that Erik wasn't going to introduce himself. "Here's a note from the office. He has permission to follow me around for a day to get used to routines and stuff."

"Well then, welcome Mr Satie," Mr Nichols greeted him, reading the name off the paper.

"_Merci_." Erik managed to say, his yellow eyes darting warily from one side of the classroom to the other.

"What's with the mask?" Kristina heard someone mutter under their breath. Erik stiffened.

"It's a medical thing," she explained, glaring directly at the person who had asked. They flushed and turned away. She turned back to Erik. "Come on, my seat is over here in the back."

~X~X~X~X~

"Your teacher is an idiot." Erik concluded as they left the classroom.

Kristina stifled a laugh.

"I'm serious!" he insisted. "He's twice my age. I knew more than he does when I was a child!"

"Teachers only know what they teach. The questions you were asking are far above the grade we're learning. Besides, not everyone can be a brilliant child prodigy in everything like you," she said teasingly. Erik flushed.

"Erik didn't mean to brag, he was only stating his opinion," he said defensively. Kristina laughed again. "So what class is next?" he asked, seemingly trying to take the conversation of his showing off during science.

"A class I'm sure you'll love," Kristina assured him. She waited for emphasis, then exclaimed, "Drama!" Erik grinned.

"This should be enjoyable. As long as your dramatic arts teacher isn't as much of an imbecile as your science teacher," Erik added under his breath.

**Is Kristina's drama teacher an imbecile? Will Drama class be fun? _Why was Rose too lazy to write what happened in science class?_ Erik!**

**Erik: I don't see why you always jump accuse me whenever anyone throws their voice in your direction.**

** And I didn't write about it because it was a boring class. Anyways, find out in the next chapter of _Phangirl or Lover?_ !**

**Authoress Note: Attention readers of Phangirl or Lover! If you want the next chapter to be put up you need to help me with something. Everyone can enter their idea and the winner gets a cameo in my story! Aren't I such a generous authoress?**

**Erik: Being too lazy to make up your own ideas makes you generous?**

…**Yes. Anyways, here's what you need to do. I need everyone to think of a funny situation that Erik and Kristina would have to act out for a game during drama class. Also, a quick description and a name so I can put you into the next chapter. **

**Leave a review with your entry and whoever comes up with an idea Erik and I like most wins!**

**Erik: I'm actually going to have a say in this?**

**Not much.**

**Erik: I thought not. **


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